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«A ROMANCE, 

OF 

OLD JERUSALEM 

FLORENCE GILMORE. 


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A ROMANCE OF 
OLD JERUSALEM 


BY 

FLORENCE GILMORE 

u 


ST. LOUIS, MO., 1911 
Published by B. Herder 
17 South Broadway 

FREIBURG (BADEN) j LONDON, W. C. 

Germany I 68, Great Russell St. 



Copyright, 1910, by Joseph Gummersbach 



Becktold 

Printing & Book Mfg. Co. 
St. Louis. 


€ CI.A278337 


A ROMANCE OF OLD 
JERUSALEM 




CHAPTER I 

The gate which led into the court of Mar- 
cius’ palace opened suddenly and two chil- 
dren, a sturdy boy of twelve and a lovely 
little girl somewhat younger, ran out into the 
narrow street. A small dog followed, bark- 
ing excitedly and scampering madly back 
and forth. The children laughed gleefully, 
delighted at having escaped from Marcia’s 
none too vigilant old nurse, and glorying in a 
freedom which they celebrated by racing up 
and down the narrow, rock-paved street with 
the little black dog at their heels. 

The passers-by scrutinized the richly dressed 
children curiously. “ The boy is the son of 
Simeon, one of the richest of the princes of 


I 


2 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

Jerusalem,” one man said in answer to his 
companion who was watching the children 
with interest. “ They came out of the court 
of yonder palace which was bought three or 
four years ago by a rich Roman, Marcius by 
name. I suppose that he knows his life — 
like many another’s — would not be very se- 
cure in Italy. The little girl must be his 
daughter. I remember having heard that he 
has a child.” 

It was indeed not choice but necessity which 
had induced the noble and pleasure-loving 
Marcius to leave Rome and to make his home 
temporarily among the despised Jews. Sev- 
eral of his political enemies were close friends 
of Tiberius, and Sejanus, who was the right 
hand of the emperor, had long been his im- 
placable foe. He had sought safety in exile 
rather than risk the possible loss of his life, 
or even the almost certain confiscation, in 
whole or part, of a fortune so vast as to be 
a tempting bait for it was accounted fabulous 
even in the Rome of the Caesars. He had 
bought a stiff, stately old palace in Jerusa- 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 3 


lem and had lived in it for several years. To 
make it habitable he had stored the cellars 
with costly wines, had made a veritable para- 
dise of the unattractive gardens, and had 
furnished the lofty, tiled apartments in the 
luxurious splendor which the once stern, 
frugal Romans had learned to consider nec- 
essary for their comfort. 

He mingled as little as possible with the 
Hebrews about him. His contempt for them 
was equalled only by theirs for all his coun- 
trymen, and to the Jews’ disdain was added a 
hatred engendered by envy, grown strong on 
resentment, and goaded to fury by years of 
oppression. Had it not been that Marcius 
managed to keep one or more of his old 
friends with him the greater part of the time, 
his life had been monotonous indeed. As it 
was, he and his boon companions feasted day 
by day and together made extravagant plans 
relative to his return to their beloved Rome. 
Meanwhile his motherless child, the little 
Marcia, was left almost entirely to the care 
of slaves, which meant that, at ten years of 


4 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


age, she was practically her own mistress. 
She would have been very lonely if it had 
not been for John, the high born Jewish lad 
who was her constant and only companion. 

John and Marcia romped outside the gate 
for ten or fifteen minutes. The novelty was 
wearing off and they were beginning to find 
the rough stones a far less attractive play- 
ground than Marcius’ marble-tiled court with 
its flowers and fountains, when three Roman 
soldiers chanced to saunter down the narrow 
street. 

It was the eve of the Pasch and the city 
was crowded with devout believers from every 
corner of Palestine. The Roman officials 
were well aware of the wide spread discontent 
among the conquered people, and to prevent 
any uprising at so auspicious a moment, had 
brought into already crowded Jerusalem sev- 
eral extra companies of soldiers. Idle for the 
most part, they paraded the streets in twos 
and threes, tantalizingly insolent in their arro- 
gance. 

Boylike, as soon as John saw the soldiers 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 5 


he was attracted by their uniforms and ran 
toward them. “ Come, Marcia ! ” he called 
back; and to the dog, “ Here Tito, Tito! ” 

Tito bounded after him and Marcia brought 
up the rear. 

With the soldiers was an enormous mastiff. 
At the first sight of Tito he gave one spring 
and seizing the little animal by the throat 
shook him savagely until he was quite dead. 
Meanwhile John beat the great dog furiously 
with his strong little fists; Marcia hid her 
face in her hands, trembling with pity and 
terror; and the soldiers stood by laughing 
brutally at the boy’s impotent rage and the 
great dog’s easy triumph. 

The mastiff dropped poor little Tito’s life- 
less body and walked off as quietly as if noth- 
ing had happened, followed by his friends who 
continued to laugh boisterously. 

Neither of the children stirred until they 
had turned the corner of the street some 
hundred yards away, then John leaned over 
Tito, his dark face still flushed and his eyes 
blazing. 


6 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

Marcia peered timidly between her fingers. 
“ Is — is he dead, John?” she whispered. 

The boy poked the little animal tenderly 
before he gathered him in his arms. “ Yes, 
he’s dead,” he answered sadly. 

Marcia began to cry aloud, and John’s 
eyes were full of tears of which, boy that he 
was, he was heartily ashamed. “ We shall 
have to — we must bury him in the garden, 
Marcia.” 

Marcia turned toward her father’s gate. 

“ No, no, in our garden. He was my dog! ” 
John said imperiously. 

Marcia made no objection. Simeon’s pal- 
ace loomed, large, dark, forbidding, on the op- 
posite side of the street, and together they 
started toward it, the little girl sobbing aloud 
and patting Tito’s glossy black head as they 
walked. As for John his eyes were so full 
of tears that he did not know that any one 
was near them until a hand was laid gently 
on his shoulder and a voice, wonderful in 
its sweetness, asked sympathetically, “ Is thy 
poor little pet dead?” 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 7 

Not far behind the Roman soldiers had fol- 
lowed a youth about eighteen years of age 
who had reached the scene just as the great 
dog gave a final shake to his small victim. 
In their grief the children had not noticed 
him. 

John brushed away his tears, and looking 
up saw a young man whose grave, sad face 
was marvellously sweet and beautiful. He 
was simply, even poorly, clad in the garb of 
a laborer and his hands were stained and 
hardened by years of toil, but John did not 
notice those details.' He was conscious only 
of a very gentle voice and kind face. 

“ Yes, he is dead,” he answered. “ A 
cruel big dog killed him — and Tito had not 
done a thing to him. Why he never hurt 
anyone! And the soldiers just laughed. 
They — ” 

Marcia interrupted him to add more de- 
tails, and together the children incoherently 
poured forth their story. Their new friend 
listened with sympathetic interest. 

“ He was the only pet I had,” John con- 


8 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

eluded, trying hard to be brave and manly. 

“ He will never play with us again and we 
shall be so lonesome,” added Marcia. The 
sad thought proved too much for her tender 
heart and her sobs burst forth afresh. 

“ Let me see him,” the young man said. 

Very reluctantly John put the small limp 
body into his arms. 

“ Poor little Tito,” he said, stroking his 
black head. 

Suddenly Tito stirred slightly. He wagged 
his stubby tail. He bounded lightly to the 
ground and began to bark and to jump up at 
John and Marcia in an ecstasy of delight. 

Marcia was beside herself with joy. 
“ Why John, he wasn’t dead at all!” she 
cried; and commenced to run to and fro with 
Tito in hot pursuit. Then calling to him to 
follow she darted into her father’s garden. 

But John stood perfectly still. His boyish 
face was habitually thoughtful and just then 
it was unusually grave. It expressed un- 
bounded awe. When Marcia had disappeared 
and the gate swung to behind her, he looked 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 9 


up at his companion. “ He was dead,” he 
said positively. Impulsively he put both 
hands on his new friend’s arm. “ Tito is 
really a great friend of mine if he is only a dog 
and I thank thee very much. I shall . never 
forget thee and I shall love thee always, 
always.” 

The youth smiled at him tenderly and 
passed on. John hesitated for a moment be- 
fore he ran after him. “ Wilt thou not tell 
me thy name? ” he begged. “ Mine is John.” 

“ John, my name is Jesus.” 

And John watched Him until He was out 
of sight, then entered Marcius’ garden in 
search of Marcia. Five minutes later he was 
playing as merrily as she, but for many a day 
the boy pondered within his heart the events 
of that morning, and for many a day he had 
a real love for the narrow rough street where 
Jesus had stood. 


CHAPTER II 


Twelve years passed. Rome and the civ- 
ilized world were still governed by the gloomy 
Tiberius. His reign had seen no great con- 
quest, had been marked by no radical change, 
for Rome had long before triumphed. Her 
power was almost boundless. Nothing re- 
mained to be accomplished. The zenith of her 
glory had been reached. Germany and Ara- 
bia alone had successfully resisted her. 
Other countries bore her yoke, some grace- 
fully, some with impotent rage. And mean- 
while Rome feasted riotously on the spoils 
of her victims. 

The epoch was signalized and glorified by 
the life of One of whom the world knew 
nothing, for whom it would have cared noth- 
ing had it known; One who lived long in se- 
clusion at Nazareth but who came forth at 
last to preach a new dispensation destined to 


IO 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM II 


revolutionize the world and to conquer Rome 
and her conquerors after more than one em- 
peror had boasted that he had crushed it to 
earth to rise no more. The cross of shame, 
deemed too ignominious to be employed as an 
instrument of death for the vilest Roman crim- 
inal, was to become, through Him, the honored 
symbol of a power which outlived the em- 
pire to establish itself firmly on her ruins and 
thence to spread her own sway to countries 
undreamed by Virgil, unconquered by Julius 
Caesar, uncoveted by Augustus. 

Those twelve years had made of the boy 
John a man, strong and brave and true. Dur- 
ing almost half of that time he had traveled 
over the greater part of the then known 
world in compliance with the wish of his 
somewhat eccentric father who, much puzzled 
as to what were best to do with his studious 
but to him incomprehensible son, had thought 
thereby to educate him broadly and practically. 

His father died, alone as he had lived, be- 
queathing to John a vast estate and a name 
honored throughout Palestine. On receiving 


12 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


word of his father’s death John at once re- 
turned to the old home in Jerusalem from 
which he had long been to all intent an exile. 

For a time he was much occupied in dis- 
entangling his father’s business affairs and in 
overseeing necessary repairs in the long neg- 
lected palace, and he saw Marcia but two or 
three times and then but for a few moments. 
She was no longer the lovely but neglected 
child whom he had known so well, but a 
woman grown, fair to look upon and sought 
after by men and women whose names were 
familiar ones in the palace of the emperor. 

One afternoon he crossed the street, his 
heart beating furiously, and as of old passed 
through the garden gate and into the mag- 
nificent court where he and Marcia had played 
away their childhood days. The instant he 
entered he saw her seated in an arbor at no 
great distance from him, and doubted not that 
she was aware of his coming though she made 
no sign. He walked toward her slowly, de- 
lighting in the lovely picture she made with her 
soft white gown, golden hair and lovely face, 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 13 

all outlined sharply against a leafy background 
of tenderest green. She was beautiful, he 
decided; more, she had a piquant grace which 
was very charming and most unusual among 
the heavy, matter-of-fact Romans. 

John was quite close to her before she 
looked his way but she welcomed him affec- 
tionately and offered him a seat beside her. 
“Do tell me something interesting, John! 
What news hast thou ? ” she clamored, as soon 
as their first greetings were over. “ Do not 
dare say that thou hast none, thou who hast 
been all over the world and seen and heard 
everything. Now, though I have been cooped 
here in Jerusalem, I have great news for thee 
— but thou must tell me thine first.” 

John laughed contentedly. It was pleas- 
ant to be tyrannized over by Marcia. It re- 
minded him of the old happy, care-free days. 
“ Pray give me time to think,” he answered 
gayly. “ Well, there is talk all through 
Palestine of a new Prophet who had arisen, 
a great Prophet like — ” 

“ O John, I care nothing for thy proph- 


14 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

ets!” Marcia interrupted saucily. “Tell me 
something really interesting.” 

“ That is interesting, Marcia,” he replied 
more seriously than she liked; but hastened 
to add in a tone light as her own, “but if 
thou wouldst rather hear it, I can tell thee 
of a sumptuous banquet which the noble 
Fabius gave in honor of the emperor not many 
weeks ago.” 

Instantly the girl was all eagerness. “ O 
John, tell me all about it! ” she commanded. 

“ It is said to have surpassed anything ever 
seen before, even in Rome,” he began. “ The 
feast is rumored to have cost two hundred 
thousand dollars and was set forth on golden 
platters worth perhaps twice that sum. Fa- 
bius served a kind of delicious fish unknown 
in Rome and all the mighty ones are vainly 
trying to discover whence it came. And the 
wine was served in jeweled goblets, so they 
say, Marcia! To entertain the guests during 
the banquet singing boys were sent all the 
way from Greece. Then the next day Fabius 
gave the people a great show in the amphi- 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 15 


theater — to round off the banquet, I suppose. 
Nearly a thousand gladiators and many wild 
beasts fought. By far the majority of them 
were wounded, many were killed outright/’ 
Marcia listened with rapt attention but 
when John stopped short with an indignant 
ring in his manly voice she pursued the sub- 
ject no farther. A short silence followed. 
At length the girl glanced up inquiringly to 
find John watching her. “ Have I improved 
much ? ” she asked frankly. 

“ Thou wert always beautiful, Marcia,” 
he answered, “ but thou hast changed greatly. 
I am not yet accustomed to the new Marcia, 
a real young lady, far more lovely than any 
I saw in all my wanderings.” 

Marcia passed over the broad but sincere 
flattery: “ Yes, I am a young lady now;” 
and she smiled, a proud, happy smile, “ But 
thou, John, thou hast not changed. Thou art 
the same boy thou hast ever been.” 

John had indeed preserved to an unusual 
extent the sweetness and simplicity of his 
childhood, but neither of them realized that 


1 6 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

she was paying him a compliment. John 
felt disappointed at her verdict, why he could 
not have told, and Marcia would have found 
him more entertaining had he been like the 
gay young Romans who flocked about her 
even in remote Jerusalem. 

John did not reply at once and when he did 
he spoke more seriously than either of them 
had done before. “ No, I do not change in 
any way, but least of all in my love for thee, 
Marcia.” 

The girl smiled sweetly. “ We have been 
good friends, haven’t we? We must be so 
always even if henceforth we see nothing of 
each other.” A trace of deeper feeling than 
the occasion seemed to warrant had crept into 
her delicately modulated voice. 

John’s heart beat furiously. “ But Marcia 
we must now begin to see a great deal of each 
other. It is about this that I wish to speak 
to thee this afternoon.” And abruptly he 
continued, “ Thou knowest as well as I that 
my father was absorbed in his books to the 
exclusion of everything else — even his son.” 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 1 7 

He spoke bitterly, a thing neither Marcia nor 
anyone else had ever heard him do before. 

“ My life had been sad indeed all through 
my boyhood but for Miras and for thee, and 
all during these last years but for the thought 
of thee and the hope that — that — ” He 
broke off, not daring to finish the sentence, but 
almost instantly he began again, still more 
earnestly. “ True, thou art not one of our 
people, Marcia, but thou couldst be — thou 
wouldst be. Thou hast never had any faith 
in the gods of Rome, thou hast ever had a 
yearning toward the one true God. Why thy 
father used to call thee his ‘ little Jew ’ 
though he guessed not half how much thou 
didst know and believe of the Almighty One 
who led us, His chosen people, out of Egypt, 
Who created heaven and earth — who created 
thee, Marcia, as He created me.” 

Again he paused and leaning forward took 
her little hand in his. “ Dost thou not think, 
Marcia, that thou couldst care enough for me 
to — I mean, dost thou not love me a little 
as I love thee ? ” 


18 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

Marcia frowned and quickly drew her hand 
from within his. “ O no, no, John! Why 
thou art a Jew ! I am a Roman! ” All the 
pride and scorn of the typical Roman rang 
in every word. “ But thou dost not mean it 
— thou didst not think. I a worshipper of 
the God of the Jews — I! ” And she laughed 
lightly but none the less scornfully. 

John flushed crimson but she gave him no 
chance to reply. Quick as a flash she rattled 
on, “ But thou hast not asked me for my 
news. I shall tell it to thee nevertheless, 
though, since thou art so indifferent, thou dost 
not really deserve to hear it. It is great, 
great good news ! My father is going to take 
me back to Rome! He has bought a villa 
just outside the city on the Appian Way. It 
is one of the most magnificent in all the world, 
John. At last we shall live as Romans should. 
Our lives will be one glorious round of ban- 
quets like Fabius’, of great shows in the am- 
phitheater, and of royal entertainments in the 
court of the emperor, for Father is in high 
favor again. We are to start in a few days. 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 19 

And John — they will like me there, and ad- 
mire me, dost thou not think so ? ” she added 
a little anxiously and as simply as a child. 
In truth she felt herself a child again when 
she was with John. 

There was no answering smile on John’s 
grave face. “ O Marcia, Marcia, dost thou 
then care more for pleasure and admiration 
than for the love of thy old friend? ” 

“John, it is disagreeable of thee to put it 
so,” she pouted. “ But I do love those things. 
I love money and all the beautiful, bright toys 
it brings. I know that they last but a little 
while but I manage to forget that most of the 
time. I think I was made for such things. I 
am a Roman like the rest.” 

John did not answer and she talked on tell- 
ing him in detail of their plans and of the 
splendors which awaited them, splendors for 
which her father was only less eager than her- 
self. 

John did not hear more than half she said. 
He was trying to realize that the one dream 
of his life was shattered forever. It seemed 


20 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


to him that he felt no pain, only an utter 
numbness of mind and heart. One fact alone 
he saw plainly: how groundless had been his 
hope of seeing Marcia embrace his faith. In 
a few minutes his face had grown so white and 
haggard that at last she noticed it and checked 
her heartless chatter. 

“ Thou art ill, John ! Shall I not tell 
Sylvia to get thee some remedy ? ” 

“ No, no, Marcia. I am perfectly well — 
but I must go.” 

The girl laid a detaining hand on his arm. 
“ But thou hast told me nothing of thy plans. 
Do not leave me thus.” 

“ Plans ! ” he exclaimed bitterly. “ I have 
no plans. Life means nothing to me now.” 

“ O John, thou art foolish ! ” Marcia 
laughed as he stooped to kiss her hand and 
turned quickly away. 

He had almost reached the gate when he 
heard a light step behind him and Marcia’s 
voice saying softly, “ John! Wait a moment, 
John!” 

He turned toward her stiffly. She came 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 2 1 

forward with both hands outstretched and 
clasped his burning ones tenderly. There 
were tears in her dark eyes and when she 
spoke her voice trembled. “ I am sorry, John 
— O so sorry to hurt thee so ! But I cannot 
help it. I would love thee more if I could, 
and I shall never forget thee — never” 

In a moment she was gone and John, half 
blinded by his tears, stumbled across the 
street and into his own lonely, dark old palace 
with a pain in his heart which was to find no 
relief for many and many a weary day. 

Miras, a faithful Arabian servant, who 
loved him as a son, had seen him go forth 
bright faced and eager; he saw him return — 
and with that quick intuition which is born of 
the heart, he understood what had happened 
as well or better than John himself. Often 
during the ensuing weeks there were tears in 
his black eyes as he looked at his master’s 
white face, but he offered him no verbal sym- 
pathy; however, John was conscious of an 
added tenderness in his manner, a new solici- 
tude in his service. He was grateful, though 


22 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


he failed to appreciate at its worth the love 
and loyalty of the silent man who had served 
his father most faithfully and who loved as 
well as served him. 


CHAPTER III 


One month lagged by, then another, and 
John was ever feverishly busy. He had as- 
sumed complete control of his interests and 
traveled back and forth continually, visiting 
his orchards and vineyards, so numerous that 
they dotted Palestine on both sides of the Jor- 
dan and West to the sea in the neighborhood 
of Joppa. He was trying to fill his mind with 
business details to the exclusion of every other 
thought. All in vain ! He saw Marcia’s face 
in every flower and heard her voice in the 
sweet songs of the birds and the soft rustling 
of the leaves. 

He trembled at the thought of his future, 
seeing before him but a series of dreary, aim- 
less days. His faith helped him little. In- 
stead of arousing it, sorrow had drugged it 
to sleep and heaven looked a weary way off. 

One day his burden seemed heavier than he 
23 


24 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

could bear. For a week he had been alone, sel- 
dom speaking to any one from one morning un- 
til the next. The weather had been most de- 
pressing — hot and humid and without sun- 
shine. He had received a short letter from 
Marcia full of glowing descriptions of their 
magnificent villa and of the cordial reception 
tendered them in Rome. It was a friendly 
letter but the very kindness of it hurt him be- 
cause it was only kindness. 

Toward noon that day he started back to 
Jerusalem which lay some twenty miles South 
of the vineyard he had been inspecting. He 
was riding slowly along an unfrequented road, 
lost in his gloomy thoughts, when his atten- 
tion was attracted by the sound of a child’s 
cry. Startled out of his reverie, he looked 
about him. On a bit of grass in the scanty 
shelter of a young palm tree lay a woman, ap- 
parently very ill, and beside her knelt a rag- 
ged little boy, wringing his hands and sobbing 
piteously. 

Quick as thought John jumped from his 
horse and went toward them. Very gently 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 25 

he touched the child on the shoulder. “ Do 
not cry. Perhaps I can help thee. Tell me, 
where wouldst thou go ? ” 

The boy’s sobbing ceased instantly and he 
grasped John’s arm confidingly. “ We are on 
our way to the city — over there ; ” and he 
pointed vaguely in the direction of a little town 
nestled at the foot of a hill some two miles 
distant. “ We walked and walked until my 
mother grew so tired and so ill that her feet 
wouldn’t go any more. And — and I don’t 
know what to do.” His tears burst forth 
afresh as he enumerated his woes but he 
checked them after a moment to add with a 
gleam of hope, “ We are almost there, aren’t 
we? ” 

“ The town is about two miles farther on. 
But that is not far,” he reassured him seeing 
that the boy looked appalled at his answer. He 
lifted the woman into his broad, comfortable 
saddle, and supporting her with one arm and 
directing the horse with the other, started on 
with the boy at his side. The woman was thin 
to the point of emaciation and so ill that John, 


26 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

in his inexperience, feared that she might die 
before they reached their destination. He 
could not imagine what reason had been strong 
enough to induce one in her condition to un- 
dertake a journey on foot with a companion 
ten or twelve years of age. 

As soon as he had shifted his responsibility 
to older shoulders, the boy brightened. He 
became very talkative. “ My name is Sam- 
uel,” he announced. “ My mother’s is Esther. 
She has been ill for a whole year, but she will 
be well and strong to-night ! Hast thou heard 
of the great Prophet?” 

John said that he knew something of Him. 

“ He is going to cure mother. That is why 
we are walking to the city. He is there to- 
day.” 

Hearing this, and realizing what confidence 
in her recovery they must have had to come so 
far under such difficulties, John’s heart ached 
with sympathy for the suffering woman and 
the bright faced boy, doomed to such bitter 
disappointment. It did not occur to him that 
there was any chance of her cure. The little 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 27 

he had heard of the Prophet from Nazareth 
did not prepossess him in his favor; besides, 
to cure this woman would be almost to raise the 
dead to life. 

For some time they trudged on without talk- 
ing. When John, astonished at the boy’s sud- 
den silence, glanced down at him he saw that 
the light had died out of his face. He seemed 
to be greatly troubled about something. 

“ What is it that worries thee?” he asked. 
“ I promise thee that no harm will come to 
thee or to thy mother.” 

“ Oh it is not that, but — ” He hesitated 
for a moment, then began again. “ Yesterday 
I heard a Rabbi say that the Nazarene is a 
cheat. But my mother says that God sent 
Him. Which dost thou think is right? ” 

John was at a loss for an answer. He 
glanced at the sweet white face pillowed on his 
arm, and there flashed into his mind the image 
of another face, most fair and tender, a face 
which had looked at him with boundless love 
when he was a little child. He looked down 
at Samuel and smiled reassuringly. “ I think, 


28 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


Samuel, that thou art safe in believing thy 
mother. Mothers know more than any one 
else in the world.” And he himself wondered 
at his answer, for did he also not consider the 
Prophet an impostor? 

Samuel brightened at once, perfectly satis- 
fied, and resumed his chatter. John was soon 
obliged to interrupt him. Esther was no 
longer able to keep her seat even with his help 
and he lifted her from the horse and laid her on 
the grass until he could make some other ar- 
rangement. He looked up and down the nar- 
row road but there was no one in sight. 
“ Canst thou ride? ” he asked Samuel, puzzled 
at having two helpless charges. 

“ I never did but I think I could. I have 
always wanted to try,” the little fellow an- 
swered, his eyes dancing. 

John raised him into the saddle. 

The boy looked frightened though he tried 
to smile manfully. “ It’s — it’s higher up here 
than thou wouldst think ! ” he said uneasily ; 
but after a few moments his fear wore off and 
he laughed with sheer delight. 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 29 


Then John took the mother in his arms and 
often staggering beneath her weight, light as 
she was for a woman, he trudged ahead. He 
was almost due in Jerusalem and he was tired 
beyond expression, still his heart was lighter 
than it had been since Marcia left. There is 
wonderful healing power in kindness. 

As soon as Samuel began to feel at home on 
the gentle horse he would canter ahead, to come 
back to his friends with his beaming face 
flushed rosy red by the unusual exercise. Once 
John called to him. He was sorry to recall 
the boy’s cares to his mind but it was inevitable. 

“ If thy mother be not cured by this Prophet, 
what will you do ? How will you get home ? ” 

Samuel smiled at him pityingly. “ But she 
will be! He can cure anybody! We shall 
walk back home this evening; ” and he was off 
again at a brisk pace. 

John resolved to wait until they had seen the 
Nazarene and were satisfied that He could not 
help the sufferer, and then himself do for them 
all that lay in his power. But he dreaded wit- 
nessing Samuel’s disappointment. As for Es- 


30 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


ther, she was so ill that he doubted if she knew 
where she was or why. 

They were still half a mile from the town 
and John’s strength was well nigh exhausted 
when, most opportunely, a tall stout man, 
dressed in the coarse garb of a sailor or fisher- 
man, met them at a cross road. He accosted 
John in the friendliest way possible and of- 
fered to relieve him of his burden. John ac- 
quiesced gratefully. 

“ She is thy mother?” the stranger asked. 

“ No. She is a poor woman from the coun- 
try North of here. She imagines that this 
Man whom some call the Messias can restore 
her to health.” 

“ He can. I have seen Him cure not only 
the sick, but the lame, the deaf, and even those 
born blind. I am one of His followers,” he 
added, by way of explanation. 

Still John was unconvinced but he said 
nothing and they walked on in silence until 
they reached the outskirts of the city. “If 
thou art not too tired I shall give the woman 
to thee once more,” the man said. “ I have 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 31 


something to attend to for the Master before I 
rejoin Him.” 

They were then quite close to a great multi- 
tude gathered in an open field just outside the 
town. Seeing the people and realizing Who 
was in their midst, Samuel was awed into 
silence ; his mother, on the other hand, seemed 
to revive a little. 

John entrusted his horse to the care of a man 
who stood near by and with Samuel at his 
heels elbowed his way as best he could through 
the motley throng. There was no uproar, no 
pushing, in spite of their numbers. All were 
very quiet, very gentle, and when they saw 
that John carried a sick woman made way for 
him instantly. When he reached the inner cir- 
cle, some thirty feet in diameter, which was 
formed about the Teacher, one man threw his 
cloak upon the ground and helped John lower 
her upon it. 

They had made her as comfortable as pos- 
sible, but a full minute passed and still John 
stooped over her solicitously — not that he 
could do more for her, but that he dreaded to 


3 2 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


look upon the Nazarene. He glanced up at 
last, and having seen Him he could not look 
away. 

He was seated on an improvised stool in the 
shade of a gnarled, weather beaten tree. There 
was a wondrous majesty in His bearing, a 
wondrous beauty and power in His grave face. 
He was speaking to the people as tenderly as if 
they were His little children, each and every 
one of them especially dear to His heart. And 
every rough, world-hardened man, and every 
vain selfish woman there, hung on His words 
spellbound. 

He was addressing them, and the words 
which John heard were these : “ Come to me, 

all you that labour, and are burdened, and I 
will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you, 
and learn of me, because I am meek, and hum- 
ble of heart: and you shall find rest to your 
souls. For my yoke is sweet and my burden 
light." 

He ceased speaking. Samuel had been 
watching Him with utmost awe and reverence, 
and Jesus turned and looked at him lovingly. 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 33 


With a glad cry the boy sprang toward Him. 
Very tenderly Jesus laid His hand on the little 
head as if in blessing; then Samuel whispered 
something to Him, pointing to his mother. 

Jesus went to her and taking her by the 
hand spoke to her, calling her daughter. John 
watched them fascinated. 

Esther opened her eyes and smiled. She 
stirred a little; a flood of color swept over her 
face, a moment before so deathlike in its pal- 
lor; she smiled again, the most radiant smile 
John had ever seen. An instant later she and 
Samuel were kneeling at His feet pouring forth 
their thanks, while the people crowded near re- 
joicing. 

John slipped away. Esther and Samuel 
needed him no longer : they had found a more 
powerful friend. 

It was late when he reached Jerusalem. 
The night was dark and a fine rain fell but he 
heeded it not. His solitary ride had been 
cheered by the echo of a voice inexpressibly 
sweet and tender which said, “ Come to me all 
you that are burdened and I will refresh you. 


34 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


Take my yoke upon you, and leajn of me, be- 
cause I am meek, and humble of heart; and 
you shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke 
is sweet and my burden light.” 

One question forced itself upon him. Had 
not this Prophet who cured bodily ills so easily 
the greater power of soothing suffering, yearn- 
ing souls ? 

And John almost concluded that He had. 


CHAPTER IV 


John had sent word home that he would re- 
turn to Jerusalem during the afternoon, and 
Miras had watched for him for hours before 
he heard the clang of his horse’s hoofs on the 
stone pavement and his terse but courteous di- 
rections to the slave who had long sat in the 
shelter of some projecting masonry, waiting 
to lead the tired animal to the stable. 

Miras hastened forward carrying a small 
swinging lamp to light his master’s way 
through the narrow tiled passage which opened 
off the gate and led to the court which in those 
days formed an important part of every pre- 
tentious home. Side by side and in silence he 
and John crossed it and entered a great, sparely 
furnished apartment which John used much 
when the inclemency of the weather made the 
roof — the usual living room — uninhabitable, 
or at least undesirable. 

35 


36 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

Miras placed the lamp on a low table and 
hurried away to return shortly bearing on a 
tray a light supper of wheaten cakes, dates and 
figs and a goblet of choice wine. A boy fol- 
lowed bringing two silver lamps of elaborate 
workmanship. He set them beside the tray 
and slipped noiselessly from the room. Miras, 
too, was about to leave John to himself, but he 
paused for a moment to ask a little anxiously, 
“ Thou art damp and very weary, can I not do 
something more for thee ? ” 

John answered absently in a rather abrupt 
negative, but before Miras had reached the 
heavy portiere which separated that apartment 
from the adjoining one, he called him back. 
“ Stay with me, Miras. I have much to tell 
thee.” 

The two had grown close to each other of 
late. There had been a time when John had 
accepted his unobtrusive, unselfish devotion in- 
differently, but in the loneliness of the preced- 
ing months he had turned to him for the com- 
panionship of which he stood so sorely in need. 
The ice of his reserve broken, John had found 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 3 7 

that the silence of the grave, sad Arab con- 
cealed a mind alert and well stored with the 
lore of his people; and, better still, one which 
had pondered deeply the matters within its 
ken. 

Miras seated himself on a low couch not far 
from John. “ Thou art late. I feared that 
some accident had befallen thee,” he said. 

John had tasted the fruit and sipped the 
wine but without relish and he pushed the tray 
aside. “ An accident?” he repeated. “ No, 
Miras. But it hath been a strange, strange 
day. A wonderful day!” And with intense 
earnestness he poured forth the story of his 
meeting with Esther and Samuel and of all that 
followed, minimizing only what he had done 
to help them. 

Miras listened with rapt attention but when 
John had finished he made no comment. For 
some minutes they sat in absolute silence 
which the servant was the first to break. “ It 
was very marvellous,” he said wonderingly. 
“ This Prophet, who is He ? Whence comes 
He? What knowest thou of Him? ” 


38 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

John thought for a moment before he re- 
plied. “ In truth, Miras, I know little, almost 
nothing about Him. He is creating a great 
stir throughout the whole of Palestine but I — 
I have heeded it not at all. My mind has been 
full of other things. It did not occur to me 
until thou didst ask that I do not even know 
His name. I have heard Him called ‘ The 
Prophet ’ and ‘ Master ’ and ‘ The Nazarene.’ 
This last name must mean that He hath dwelt 
in forlorn little Nazareth — surely the last 
place one would look for anything great! 
Then too, Miras, to-day I overheard a man in 
the crowd say that He was born in Bethlehem 
the year that Augustus had the whole world en- 
rolled.” 

Miras started violently. Impetuously he 
laid a trembling hand on John’s knee. “ In 
Bethlehem ! Bethlehem ! And thou didst say 
that He is not far past thirty years of age ! ” 

John was astonished at his vehemence. He 
had never before seen him stirred out of his 
quiet, passionless tranquillity, and that he would 
be so greatly moved by an apparently trifling 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 39 

detail concerning a Man whom he had never 
seen was indeed unaccountable. “Yes, I did 
say that he was born in Bethlehem thirty or 
thirty-one years ago. What strange signifi- 
cance is there in that ? ” 

“ Wonderful ! Wonderful ! ” Miras ex- 
claimed, talking to himself rather than to John 
who, watching him, became more and more 
mystified. His eyes shone, his lips trembled 
and he clasped and unclasped his hands excit- 
edly. 

Slowly he became calm and when he had re- 
covered himself he said solemnly, “ I have a 
story to tell unto thee, one not less marvellous 
than thy own. It happened years ago in our 
desert. Our tribe had traveled swiftly for 
many hours and at nightfall we pitched our 
tents on the northern boundary of the great 
plain. The men, women and children of my 
tribe, as well as the poor camels, were spent by 
the long day’s journey, and soon the camp was 
wrapped in slumber. I alone watched — not 
that I feared an attack, for the country had 
never been so peaceful, nor wild beasts for 


40 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

our camp fires were burning brightly, but be- 
cause, strangely enough, I felt no fatigue. 

“ The night was very still, very peaceful, 
very beautiful. It seemed to me that the stars 
had never before shone so brilliantly nor the 
’ crescent moon been half so fair. Long I sat 
before my tent watching the heavens and the 
unbroken desert spread out before me, dream- 
ing great dreams of the life to come. Sud- 
denly on the Western horizon I saw faintly 
outlined against the starlit sky several figures, 
small but distinct. Soon I could distinguish 
three white camels. Slowly they came near 
and nearer. They were larger than any I had 
ever seen though our camels are reputed the 
finest in the world as our horses are the fleet- 
est.” The pride of the true Arab spoke in 
every word. 

“ In the dim light I watched the little party, 
wondering whence they came. When they 
were some hundred yards from my tent the 
camels knelt and their riders stepped to the 
ground. For a time they talked earnestly, 
then, after embracing one another tenderly, one 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 41 


set forth to the North, and another went due 
East. The third watched them until they were 
lost in the distance before he came toward me 
leading his camel. I hastened to meet him 
and to offer him the use of my tent. He ac- 
cepted gratefully but for one night only, and 
he refused the food and drink I ordered for 
him. I could not but see that his eyes were 
full of tears and that it was with difficulty 
that he controlled his voice. Needless to say, 
I appeared to notice nothing — a stranger 
should never intrude on anything so sacred as 
grief.” Miras paused for a moment, and 
seemed lost in thought; when he took up the 
thread of his narrative it was with downcast 
eyes and reverent, bowed head. 

“ Far into the night we talked. It was not 
long before he opened his heart to me. ‘ My 
old heart is heavy this night,’ he said. ‘ I have 
parted from my best, almost my only friends, 
and I know that I shall never see them more. 
Many, many leagues apart, we thought the 
same thoughts, dreamed the same dreams, and 
reached the same conclusions after years of 


42 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


deep study; together we have been witness to 
great wonders and experienced heavenly joy. 
Now it is all past. Each of us must go back 
to his own country to live out his life among 
men who will not understand.’ 

“ I was mystified. The old man’s words 
were a riddle to me, nothing more. But he 
went on to tell me that he and two others from 
far distant corners of the earth had seen a star 
and had followed it until -it led them together 
and then on to Bethlehem where they saw and 
adored Him who was born King of the Jews. 
He said truly that among all peoples there has 
ever been a tradition, more or less perfectly 
preserved, of the advent of a Saviour for the 
whole human race. Men have now fallen into 
the lowest depths of sin and unbelief and he 
and his friends felt that evil could triumph no 
longer and that His hour must be at hand. He 
claimed, John, that this Infant newly born who 
was heralded by a star in the heavens, was to 
save the world — how he knew not. ‘ I shall 
not live to see it,’ he said to me, ‘ but thou art 
young. Thou mayst be spared to see such 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 43 

wonders as the world hath never dreamed.’ ” 

Again the Arab was silent and John waited 
patiently. “ He departed on his way soon 
after sunrise; but never for a single day have I 
forgotten his visit. I have ever watched for 
Him of whom he spoke. What thinkest thou, 
John, have we found Him?” 

John made no reply. A tumult of con- 
flicting thoughts tortured his mind. “ Can 
this Man, the friend of fishermen, be the Mes- 
sias? But who except the Messias is to save 
the people — to be King of the Jews? And if 
this Nazarene be not the Promised One, who is 
He? Whence His power? Whence His love- 
liness ? ” 

The minutes passed and still the two men, so 
different in race, station and education, sat 
motionless in the great dimly lighted room, both 
pondering the same wonders and both unable 
to reach any conclusion. 

As John dwelt on his servant’s story some- 
thing in it which he had passed over before 
struck him forcibly. “ Miras, thou didst speak 
of thy tents, and of thy tribe. Who wert thou ? 


44 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


What brought thee to Palestine to seek work ? 
Wilt thou not tell me, Miras? — But not if the 
subject be painful to thee. — Thou art as a 
father to me, I as a stranger to thee. ,, 

Miras was much touched. For many years 
he had been asked no question that implied a 
personal interest in him. To be a servant in a 
great house meant to be a machine, nothing 
more. He answered John simply and will- 
ingly. “ I shall tell thee all. I and my father 
and grandfather before me were emirs of a 
large and powerful Arab tribe. We had 
enormous wealth, as wealth is counted amongst 
us — strong camels, fleet horses, and loyal, 
brave followers. Rome has never conquered 
us. Woe is me that she has attempted it! 
There is no land she does not covet. Her 
thirst for power and riches is insatiable. In a 
raid into Arabia made by Roman troops I was 
wounded and left for dead at the edge of the 
desert. I managed to make my way to the 
nearest village where I was nursed back to 
health. There I learned that my, tribe had 
been blotted out. Many of my people had been 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 4? 


killed in the foray, some few had escaped, and 
the rest, several hundred of them, had been 
taken captive and sold into slavery.” His eyes 
were blazing and his voice was thick with pas- 
sion. 

“John, among those last was my wife — 
contrary to the custom of my people I had but 
one. Thank God our children had died of a 
fever the year before! They at least were 
spared endless misery. In time I discovered 
that Sira, my wife, had been sold into Pales- 
tine. Further trace of her I had none — nor 
have ever had. I came to Jerusalem penniless 
and thy father hired me. That I served him 
faithfully thou knowest, but my first thought 
throughout the years hath ever been for Sira. 
I have done what I could to find her. She may 
be dead. I hope she is.” 

“ O, Miras ! And to think that neither my 
father nor I ever knew! Hereafter to help 
thee trace her shall be the business of my life as 
it is of thine. We shall surely find her, Miras. 
Do not despair. God is good.” John stretched 
out his hands and his friend grasped them al- 


46 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

most fiercely. Both were deeply moved but, 
manlike, they made little display of their emo- 
tion, and after a slight pause, Miras spoke as 
quietly as usual. 

“ I have loved thee, John, from the day I 
came here and found thee a lonely, motherless 
lad, thoughtful beyond thy years. It hath been 
my happiness to serve thee. Of late it hath 
grieved me to know — to see — ” He broke 
off abruptly. His voice was all tenderness. 
John had never before realized the depth of 
Miras’ affection for him. His sore heart was 
soothed but he could say nothing. 

Again there was silence until at length Miras 
said, half to himself, “ My little Sira ! She 
was so sweet, so gentle, so tender. She had 
been so cherished all her life. Our choicest 
fruits were saved for her — our finest wines. 
The fleetest of our horses was always hers. 
But where is she now? She is getting old. 
She may be forced to do hard work for which 
she hath not the strength.” 

There was agony in his voice as he con- 
cluded bitterly. " She may be mistreated as 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 4 7 

we see other slaves mistreated every day. I 
never hear of a slave having been beaten but I 
tremble lest it was she. O Sira, Sira! My 
little Sira ! ” 

John put his hand on Miras’ shoulder. 
“ We shall find her,” he assured him so posi- 
tively that he felt encouraged, though surely 
further search seemed futile, for not only had 
a slave no identity but fifteen years had elapsed 
since her disappearance. 


CHAPTER V 


All the means which money and money 
alone could command John used to trace the 
lost Sira; but the days lengthened into weeks 
and one after another his messengers and 
agents sent him the report that they could find 
no clue to her whereabouts. Though neither 
said so to the other, both John and Miras con- 
cluded that she was dead, and to her husband 
the thought brought a peace to which he had 
long been a stranger. 

Meanwhile John was enduring an agony of 
doubt. His conscience was never at rest. One 
hour he scorned the idea that the Wonder- 
Worker from obscure Nazareth could be the 
Messias whose advent had been the hope of 
many generations ; the next, recalling the mira- 
cles which had attended His birth, or His 
power over physical infirmity, or His bound- 
less and ever elevating influence over the thou- 
48 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 49 

sands who flocked to hear Him, he felt, al- 
most as certainly, that He was indeed the 
Christ whose time all Israel knew to be at hand. 
One day he would feel it his duty openly to 
declare himself His disciple, whatever sacrifice 
of friends or caste it might involve; the next 
he shuddered at the thought as blasphemous. 

Vainly he longed for a word from Marcia 
to cast a ray of sunshine over his ever darken- 
ing path — none came. Indirectly he heard 
that Rome was singing her praises and that 
she had been present at the great games: and 
he remembered the tenderness of the child 
heart he had known so well and marvelled at 
the brutalizing influence of Rome. 

One day as he was descending the steps of 
the Temple after the morning sacrifice, his at- 
tention was attracted by a group of men who 
stood just beyond the gate talking earnestly. 
The one who faced him he recognized as Rabbi 
Seth, a life-long friend of his father’s. He 
was a learned man with a heart as true as his 
temper was uncertain. The others were stran- 
gers to him but he took them to be men of some 


50 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


importance for they were dressed in the fine 
white linen which was worn only by Jews of 
the upper classes. As John passed them he 
saluted the Rabbi respectfully and was walk- 
ing on when he was called back. 

“ Wait a moment, John. I am going your 
way,” Seth said, and when the young man 
joined them he introduced him to his compan- 
ions. John learned that two of them were 
merchants from Damascus, in Jerusalem on 
business; the third, who held a bright-faced 
little girl by the hand, was a ruler of the syn- 
agogue in a not far distant town. (Sacri- 
fices were offered only in the Temple but many 
cities had synagogues where on every Sabbath 
day a ruler read from the Scriptures and ex- 
horted the people. ) 

When John had saluted the men after the 
fashion of the day, the Rabbi said to him, 
“ My friend Jairus was about to explain to us 
a strange and ridiculous report of Him which 
has been widely circulated here in Jerusalem. 
I am more than anxious to hear the correct 
version of the story. Not knowing the facts I 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 51 

have been at a loss what to answer when asked 
about the matter.” 

From Seth’s earnest manner it was evident 
that he considered what Jairus had to tell to 
be of prime importance, and John looked at him 
with a new interest. He was a thin wiry man 
with a face so honest and so true that John felt 
moved to love and trust him. 

Jairus smiled a little as he answered the old 
Rabbi. “ I am afraid that what I have to say 
will not please you. It was all very simple. 
This is the little girl; ” and as he spoke he af- 
fectionately drew the child closer to him. She 
was paying no heed to their conversation but 
curiously watching the oddly dressed men, 
gathered from many nations, who passed back 
and forth in never ending procession. 

“ She was very ill. The doctor said that 
there was no hope. I had seen the Prophet 
of Nazareth, and been much moved by His 
teaching. I believe Him to be the Messias. 
In our grief I felt that He and He alone could 
help us. I went in search of Him and im- 
plored Him to come to our home and cure her. 


52 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

At once He started back with me but before we 
had gone far one of my friends came to tell me 
that she was already dead so it would be use- 
less to trouble the Master further.” 

Jairus paused for a moment. John glanced 
at Seth. He was frowning angrily. 

“ God is all-powerful/’ he continued slowly 
and reverently. “ He is Lord of death as well 
as of life, and so when the Nazarene told me 
to fear not but to believe firmly — why, I did 
so.” 

The girl looked up into her father’s face 
smiling sweetly. The Rabbi’s frown deepened. 
John wondered what was coming. 

“ When we reached the house the minstrels 
were already there and the mourners were 
chanting their lamentations. He — the Mes- 
sias — sent them from the room where she lay 
and in presence of her mother and me took her 
gently by the hand and called her back to life! 
That is all. You see her here and can judge 
for yourselves of the truth of my story.” 

The two Jews from Damascus burst forth 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 53 


into a series of confused exclamations and ques- 
tions, but John heard them not. There flashed 
before his mind a vivid picture of the street 
before Marcius’ palace where a Youth stood 
holding in His arms the body of a small black 
dog. He stroked it gently and life returned to 
it. “ Can He be the same ? ” he thought, 
dumbfounded. 

The image passed as swiftly as it had come; 
the Rabbi’s loud angry voice recalled him to a 
sense of his surroundings. “ You are mad, 
Jairus, mad! Look at that child. She is as 
rosy and strong a girl as I ever saw. She ill ! 
Nonsense! You imagined the whole thing!” 

The child was frightened by his vehement 
outburst and clung to her father. The three 
men laughed at his unreasonableness which did 
not tend to soothe him. 

“ Come ! ” Seth said, turning to John. “ I 
must be gone ; ” and with a stiff nod to his 
friends, he took John by the arm and hurried 
him away. For a few minutes he said no 
more. Gradually the flush died out of his 


54 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


wrinkled cheeks and he smiled whimsically to 
himself. When he spoke to John it was in the 
most amiable tone imaginable. 

“ It is a pleasure to be with thee, John. 
Thou, for one, art not infatuated by this Man 
who pretends to be the Messias. But take 
those men from whom we parted a moment 
ago. Jairus joined us just before you did — 
I am not speaking of him. He is hopeless. 
But even the other two — they were once level- 
headed and practical, shrewd in business as is 
our way, but honest. What are they now ? A 
pair of lunatics! ” His anger was getting the 
better of him again, and he talked so loudly and 
gesticulated so violently that he attracted much 
attention in the crowded street. 

“ For a quarter of an hour they actually had 
the presumption to try to prove to me by the 
Scriptures that this Man is the Christ — to me 
who have made the Holy Books the study of 
my life ! ” 

John did not know what to say. He was on 
the point of protesting against the Rabbi’s 
abuse of the Prophet when he remembered that 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 55 

he had often thought likewise. He held his 
peace. 

“ The Messias indeed ! ” Seth railed again. 
“ He is the Son of an old carpenter of Naza- 
reth — Nazareth! I myself have seen the 
house they lived in for years. It is the poorest 
in the village and that is saying much. He 
rule Israel ! He oppose Rome ! ” 

Still John made no reply and at last his com- 
panion noticed his silence. “ What thinkest 
thou ? Surely thou, thy father’s son, art not a 
follower of this impostor! ” 

“ I know not what to think,” John answered 
truthfully. “ I saw Him work a great miracle. 
I have been told that the very heavens heralded 
His birth though it took place in a dilapidated 
hut — or perhaps it was but a stable. Still — 
still he is not what I had expected the Messias 
to be. I think that He could rule a kingdom, 
but would He wish to? He holds wealth a 
lesser good than poverty; power than submis- 
sion. He says that His kingdom is not of this 
world — can it be that the Scripture means 
that? Sometimes I am struck by the force of 


56 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

His claims, again I think them blasphemy. 
But if He be not God how could He have 
raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead? ” 
“Jairus is a fool!” Seth raged. More 
gently he added, “ Have a care, my son. Thou 
art on dangerous ground. Do not play with 
fire.” Once more his anger waxed too strong 
for him. “ Thy father could never rest easy 
in his grave if his son, his only son, were to 
become a disciple of this Jesus of Nazareth! ” 
John grasped his arm so tightly that the old 
man winced with pain. “ What ! Didst thou 
call Him Jesus? ” 

“ Certainly. Why not ? It is His name.” 
“I — I had not heard Him called so,” he 
faltered. “ When Jairus told his story I won- 
dered, now I am certain.” 

Seth looked at him in amazement, having no 
clue to his meaning; however he did not ques- 
tion him. They had reached his door and he 
pressed John to enter and dine with him but 
he declined. His parting word to John was 
very kindly. “ Do not run into danger. Come 
to me and we shall try to talk calmly about this 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 57 


matter. Perhaps some day we could go to- 
gether to see the Man — He is no more, be- 
lieve me. I would be glad to help thee in any 
way in my power. I loved thy father.” 

He passed into the small court of his unpre- 
tentious house and threw himself on a wooden 
bench. For some time he puzzled over Jairus’ 
story, and then reviewed his conversation with 
John. At length he rose wearily, shaking his 
head and muttering sadly, “ He hath not fallen 
yet but he is in doubt. He talks as Philip and 
Judah once did and now they are hopelessly 
infatuated. But I must see Him. When I 
argue with His disciples they trip me there. 
‘ But thou hast not seen nor heard Him ’ — 
they all say the same, though ’tis no argu- 
ment.” 

Meanwhile John walked slowly, aimlessly, 
through the streets, entirely unconscious of his 
surroundings. “ It is the same,” he thought. 
“ It is He ! It is He ! ” And having grasped 
the fact that the Prophet who was so stirring 
Israel was one with the young Boy who had 
restored his pet to life, he marveled at his stu- 


58 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

pidity in never before associating them in his 
mind. 

“ Why, He hath changed but little. It is the 
same face which I cannot describe even to my- 
self save by saying that it is so full of love that 
it is all love. Can He be the Messias? Is 
He?” 

Carefully he reviewed every aspect of Jesus’ 
conduct on the day that Esther was cured, but 
he remained undecided. Next he recalled 
every detail of that morning long ago which 
had since been his most cherished memory, too 
sacred to be mentioned to Miras or Marcia, too 
tender to be told to his upright but stern and 
unsympathetic father. 

Finding himself close to the Temple he stood 
still, and raising his eyes toward the Holy of 
Holies, prayed earnestly for light. And then, 
deep in his heart, he heard the echo of a promise 
he, a child, had made to Jesus. “ I shall love 
Thee always.” With bowed head he resolved 
to be true to that promise whatever came. “ I 
will believe Him to be the Messias — if I can. 
I have promised to love Him — and I will * 9 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 59 


A wondrous peace overflowed his soul. “ I 
promised,” he repeated. “ I promised, and O 
it is so easy ! ” 


CHAPTER VI 


Seth was in earnest about wishing to see 
Jesus. The following day he went to John’s 
palace determined to persuade him to accom- 
pany him North to the country about Lake Gen- 
nesaret where the Nazarene was teaching at 
the time. On being told that John was not at 
home he decided to wait for him and followed 
the servant up onto the roof, which, after the 
custom of the East, served as a living room. 
It was surrounded by a low iron railing, tiled 
with small blocks of dark stone and fitted with 
movable seats. One end was partitioned off, 
shaded by a silken swing and furnished with a 
magnificence and luxury truly Oriental. 

Seth was too restless and too impatient to 
wait quietly, and during the greater part of the 
long hour which elapsed before John returned, 
he paced back and forth the length of the roof 
60 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 6l 

scorning to keep under the awning though it 
was mid-day and the sun was hot. 

John joined him at last, tired after a morn- 
ing spent with one of his agents whom he had 
found far from trustworthy. He seemed list- 
less and uninterested when Seth announced that 
he had a journey to propose, but when he un- 
folded his plans John brightened at once and 
agreed to them without hesitation. They were 
to start the next morning, travel on horseback 
by easy stages, and spend the first night at the 
house of a friend of Seth’s who gladly ac- 
commodated strangers for a slight compensa- 
tion. By the second evening they could reach 
Bethsaida in whose neighborhood Jesus was 
preaching daily. 

John made but one suggestion — that they 
take Miras with them. “ He would save us all 
care in connection with any change of horses 
we may find necessary to make good time, and 
in securing suitable lodging in Bethsaida,” he 
irged. He had another, far stronger reason for 
wishing him to accompany them, but it was one 
which he thought it well not to mention to 


62 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

Seth: he knew the servant to be only less in- 
terested than himself in Jesus of Nazareth, and 
much more eager to see Him face to face than 
was the irascible rabbi. 

“ Let us take him by all means,” Seth as- 
sented laughingly. “ Surely thou dost not ex- 
pect me to object. I shall feel rich and lux- 
urious indeed attended by thy grave, imposing 
Arab.” 

Soon after sunrise the next morning the 
three men set out, choosing a road which ran 
Northwest to the River Jordan and then 
hugged it close all the way to the Lake of Gen- 
nesaret. They talked but little, absorbed in 
their own very different thoughts. At noon 
they stopped for a substantial luncheon at an 
inn much patronized by travelers between Je- 
rusalem and the North; and John, fearing that 
the journey would prove too fatiguing for his 
old friend, insisted that they rest there for a 
couple of hours. Seth was disgusted and 
grumbled angrily about young men who had not 
half the endurance of those thrice their age. 
When his ill humor had spent itself he lay down 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 63 

on a low wicker couch and slept soundly until 
John aroused him after he and Miras had ev- 
erything in readiness for the afternoon’s ride. 

The second day’s journey was much like the 
first except that Seth was feverishly talkative 
and fatigued John inexpressibly by a never 
ending series of questions. 

Dusk was falling when they reached Beth- 
saida. They were directed to a great rambling 
old inn, one of the best in Palestine whose inns 
were neither numerous nor very inviting. In 
this one the guests ate together at one long 
table, and were quickly and deftly served by 
half grown Jewish lads. The evening meal 
was well under way when Seth and John en- 
tered the room. Instantly the hum of con- 
versation was hushed, and every man inter- 
rupted his dinner long enough to scrutinize 
them curiously. After they had found seats 
at one end of the low table, the rest paid no 
further heed to them. 

Not far from Seth and John sat a young 
man who, before their entrance interrupted 
him, had been entertaining the four or five 


64 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

others nearest him. He resumed his story 
in a voice so loud that they could not fail to 
hear every word. At first they paid no at- 
tention ; soon they were attracted by the 
mention of a familiar name; before he had 
finished they had quite forgotten their hunger 
and were listening with intense interest. 

“As I was saying, we followed Him up 
into the mountain, and all day long for three 
days He preached to us. Somehow the hours 
seemed but a moment. I, for one, — and I 
am not very pious — felt neither tired nor 
hungry until the Nazarene finished His dis- 
course. I realized then that I was both weary 
and faint for want of food. Mark, a fruit 
dealer of Capharnaum, was with me, and he 
suggested that we start back to the town at 
once to buy something to eat. I agreed to 
go though I did not know how I could walk 
that distance.” 

The man paused. When he continued his 
narrative his voice was hushed almost to a 
whisper and his face had a strange half puz- 
zled, wholly awed expression. Seth and 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 65 

John were obliged to lean forward to catch 
what he said. 

“ The whole of the great multitude who 
had been listening to the Nazarene and ques- 
tioning Him were already on their feet pre- 
paring to go away, some in one direction, 
some in another, and there was much hurrying 
and pushing and a good deal of noise and con- 
fusion. Mark and I were about to set forth 
when we saw that here and there groups of 
people were reseating themselves on the grass. 
More and more followed their example so 
that we wondered greatly until two of the 
Prophet’s disciples came our way and told us 
to sit down. We obeyed, not very willingly, 
for we had overheard one of His friends 
say that they had only a few loaves and a 
handful of small fishes, and, naturally enough, 
we concluded that there was no chance of 
getting anything to eat there on the moun- 
tain.” 

Again he stopped short. 

“ Go on, Simeon. What next? ” one of his 
companions exclaimed impatiently. “ You 


66 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

said that you had something strange to tell 
us — don’t keep us so long in suspense.” 

“ What happened next was very simple but 
I hardly know how to explain it to you. We 
were scarcely seated when two of the Proph- 
et’s disciples passed through the crowd dis- 
tributing bread and fish to every one. We 
all had plenty of both. I myself ate heartily 
of them and I tell thee the truth when I 
say that I have never tasted such delicious 
food. After we had finished they gathered 
up the fragments that were left and they filled 
twelve baskets, filled them to overflowing! 
Remember, they had only seven loaves and 
a few little fishes in the beginning and we 
who had eaten numbered four or five thou- 
sand ! ” 

Two of Simeon’s friends were deeply im- 
pressed. “ He must be the Messias ! ” ex- 
claimed one. “ Many believe that He is.” 

The man who sat nearest him laughed de- 
risively. “O now, Simeon, tell us the rest 
of the story. There was a trick somewhere 
or else you were dreaming.” 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 67 

As for John he too cried, “ The Messias! 
The Messias ! ” 

Seth scowled at him. “ You will be as 
credulous as Jairus before I get you home. 
This man is probably an accomplice hired to 
tell this nonsense,” he growled in an under- 
tone. 

“ But Seth, he says that thousands partook 
of the food — has this poor Son of your poor 
carpenter of Nazareth wherewith to pay 
thousands of accomplices ? ” 

The rabbi muttered something under his 
breath and hastened to excuse himself for the 
night on the plea of being tired. 

The sun was high in the heavens before 
Seth, John and Miras were once more on 
horseback in company with some twenty or 
thirty others all going to Capharnaum where, 
it was thought, Jesus would teach that day. 
It was long past noon when they found Him 
in the synagogue surrounded as usual, but not 
by a quiet, docile, respectful throng such as 
John had seen on the day that Esther was cured. 
Many of the men were arguing angrily with 


68 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

one another, some were even disputing with 
the Master Himself. 

Miras had entrusted their horses to a man 
he knew and they elbowed their way through 
the crowd until they were quite close to 
Jesus. On every side they heard muttered 
protests and short exclamations of dissatis- 
faction whose drift they could not understand. 
One man hissed fiercely almost in John’s ear, 
“ Came down from heaven indeed ! Why is 
He not the Son of Joseph and Mary? Many 
of us knew him and we see her often! ” 

At that moment John caught sight of Jesus 
and his heart beat fast. His sacred face was 
sadder than he had ever seen it, and when 
He spoke it was almost sternly. “ Murmur 
not among yourselves,” he admonished the 
people. 

He stood silent for a moment with His 
eyes raised toward heaven; and the multi- 
tude, silent, watched Him. And then He of- 
fered them the most wonderous of all His 
gifts, a gift than which, God though He was, 
He could bestow no greater. Very lovingly 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 69 

did He offer it ; very patiently and simply did 
He explain what they could not, nay, would 
not understand. 

He was offering them Himself. 

When all was said many of the people, 
whose murmurings had waxed loud and 
strong, turned and left Him; and with them 
went Seth, the angriest of all the angry multi- 
tude. 

Jesus looked after them sorrowfully. But 
yesterday they had been His friends. Many 
of them He had fed miraculously but a few 
days before; many He had cured of painful 
and loathsome diseases; many He had pri- 
vately counseled or warned or comforted. 

Swiftly they hurried away from Him and 
sorrowfully He watched them out of sight. 
They were His children and they were leaving 
Him to return no more. At last He turned 
back to the Twelve who were His closest 
friends. “Will you also go away?” 

One of them, Simon Peter, answering for 
his brethren, said impulsively and all the more 
lovingly because so many were proving false, 


70 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

“ Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou hast 
the words of eternal life. ,, 

A few minutes later Jesus addressed John 
and Miras who still stood near. “And will 
you too stay with Me? ” 

With one accord they fell on their knees, 
and John, speaking for both, echoed Peter’s 
words, “ Thou hast the words of eternal life.” 

And Jesus blessed them with tears. 

Miras had left and gone to get the horses 
ready for their journey back to Jerusalem; 
and John, being tired, sat down on one of the 
benches which lined the walls of the syna- 
gogue. A few feet away sat Jesus, and 
gathered about Him were the Twelve who 
were plying Him with eager questions. 

Earlier in the day John had noticed a costly 
litter at rest outside the Temple gates, and 
beside it a woman perhaps fifty years of age 
dressed in the coarse garb of a slave, but 
whose bearing and appearance denoted a re- 
finement unusual in one of her class. Later 
he had seen the same slave within the syna- 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 7 I 

gogue in attendance upon a young girl, fair 
and sweet to look upon though far too pale. 
The woman’s whole manner bespoke her 
tenderness for her charge. Both of them ap- 
peared to listen with utmost reverence to 
every word that fell from the lips of the 
Master. John had observed them closely for 
a few minutes ; then, in the soul-stirring 
moments that followed, had forgotten their 
existence. 

Hardly had he seated himself upon the 
bench when they again attracted his attention. 
Like Miras and himself they had proved faith- 
ful. The young girl was rising from her 
seat though the older woman appeared to 
protest. The reason for the tenderness he 
had earlier observed in the slave’s manner and 
for her present reluctance was soon evident. 
The girl was very lame; she could walk only 
with crutches and then with extreme diffi- 
culty. Nevertheless she and her attendant 
made their way slowly and painfully toward 
Jesus whose back was turned their way so 
that He saw them not. John longed to offer 


72 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

his assistance but felt that it would not be 
welcome. 

They drew close to Jesus and the girl spoke 
His name softly. When He turned to her 
she showed Him her crutches with a little 
pleading gesture. “ O Lord, that I may 
walk. I am but young — and this is hard.” 

Jesus laid His hand gently on her small 
dark head before He took the crutches from 
her and handed them to her companion. “ Go 
in peace and joy, Miriam,” He said; and to 
the slave, “ Thy mistress needs these no 
longer.” 

To John’s astonishment He next spoke to 
him. “ Thy servant — where is he? Bring 
him to Me.” 

At once John left the synagogue and ran 
down the street after the fast disappearing 
Miras. When he had gained on him a little 
he whistled loud, a peculiar whistle which had 
been his chief accomplishment as a boy. 
Miras would have recognized it had he not 
known that John was within a hundred 
miles of him. He turned instantly, and when 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 73 

his master waved to him, started back; John 
hurried on to meet him. 

“ The Master would speak to thee ! ” he 
panted when he caught up with him; and as 
they retraced their steps he told excitedly of 
the miracle which he had just witnessed. 

They regained the synagogue at last and 
ran up the steps. They drew close to Jesus 
as Miriam and her slave were leaving Him. 

“ What can I do for Thee, Master ?” 
Miras asked, eager to serve Him. 

“ My son, speak to her.” 

Wonderingly Miras looked toward the two 
women whom Jesus had indicated by a slight 
gesture; at the same instant the slave turned 
back for something. The two were standing 
face to face and they looked at each other, 
silent, motionless. The moments passed and 
still they stood as if changed to stone. 
Miriam glanced back to see what was delay- 
ing her attendant; John had already guessed 
the meaning of it all. 

Miras spoke at last. “ My litttle Sira ! ” 
he said softly, and in those three words he 


74 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

told a long, long story of years of love and 
yearning. Very tenderly he stooped and 
kissed her, and she clung to him sobbing 
happily, “ O Miras ! Miras ! I have waited 
for thee so long ! ” 


CHAPTER VII 


Weeks and months passed; spring had twice 
blossomed into summer, and summer mel- 
lowed into the riper glory of autumn. The 
short winters had come, and in their turn re- 
treated, vanquished by the fiery sun of the 
tropics and invincible warm winds, desert- 
born. Then a spring dawned, the last that 
Christ was to spend among men. Fair was 
it and sweet like other springs, all uncon- 
scious of its destiny. 

To John they had been lonely but not un- 
happy years. Almost immediately after his 
joyous meeting with Sira, Miras had left him 
to go to Jericho where in the household of 
Miriam’s parents he soon became as valued 
and valuable a servant as he had been in the 
dark old palace in Jerusalem. His wife was 
a slave for life, and so devoted to Miriam and 
her kind mother that she did not repine. 
75 


76 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


When Miras joined her the one great long- 
ing of her heart was satisfied. 

As for Miras he was content at last though 
there were times when he sorely missed the 
grave, gentle, affectionate young master whom 
he had loved as a boy and who, as he matured, 
inspired in him a respect deep as his love. 

Occasionally John went to Jericho espe- 
cially to see Miras, and he always found 
awaiting him there a gracious, friendly wel- 
come from Miriam no less than from her 
parents who, from the first, had been attracted 
to him. And many and many an evening as 
he sat alone and lonely on his starlit roof did 
he dream of the gentle but spirited girl whose 
miraculous cure he had witnessed and whose 
ardent love for Jesus of Nazareth was a 
strong bond between them; but many and 
many a time too did the thought of another, 
fairer, dearer face drive away her image. 
There was a longing in his heart which never 
grew less ; there was a dull pain which nothing 
could soothe. 

Since that Paschal time two years before 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 77 


when John had gone with Seth and Miras to 
Capharnaum to see and hear Jesus, he had 
openly declared himself a firm believer in His 
divine mission, and had been treated by Him 
and His disciples as a trusted friend. In con- 
sequence he was shunned by many in Jerusa- 
lem — generally by other men of wealth and 
position, always by the priests who were the 
bitterest and most powerful of the enemies of 
the Teacher from obscure Nazareth. John 
had, more than once, spent four or five days 
at a time in company with Jesus, His apostles 
and a few favored disciples, and those days it 
was that gave him strength to face bravely 
his isolated, dreary, daily life. 

The Paschal season was again at hand and, 
as usual, Jerusalem was crowded by the faith- 
ful who flocked thither from every hamlet 
and town in Judea and Galilee and from all 
the great cities of Asia Minor, each of which 
had its Hebrew colony. On Thursday 
morning John went to the Temple to be pres- 
ent at the morning sacrifice. It was with 
difficulty that he elbowed his way through 


78 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

the throng of devout Jews who crowded the 
sacred precincts, to the secluded corner which 
he had learned to consider his own. When all 
was over and he was again threading his way 
across the outer court, a hand was laid lightly 
on his arm. He turned quickly, startled for 
a moment, to find himself face to face with a 
tall, overgrown lad whose boyish face was 
lighted by the merriest of laughing eyes. 

For an instant John looked at him in 
astonishment, entirely at sea as to his identity. 
Suddenly a smile of pleased recognition 
brightened his face and he exclaimed delight- 
edly, “ Why it is Samuel ! — But thou hast 
grown to be a man! I did not know thee at 
first!” 

The boy laughed happily, proud of his 
height and overjoyed at being called a man. 
“ I knew thee as soon as I caught a glimpse 
of thy face. I have watched thee ever since 
for fear of losing sight of thee in the crowd.” 

They had reached the gate of the Temple 
but the boy kept close to John’s side. “ I 
shall walk thy way if I may,” he said. “ For 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 79 

a long time I have been anxious to talk to 
thee.” 

John was glad to have company and told 
Samuel so; then for a few minutes they strode 
on in silence for he hardly knew what to say 
to this boy whom he had seen but once and 
that so long before. Samuel relieved him of 
his embarrassment by opening the conver- 
sation. 

“ I have been wishing to see thee ever since 
that day. My mother and I have grieved to 
think that we never thanked thee for all thy 
kindness. Thou wert so good to us. But 
for thee she would never have been cured for 
I had no horse and I could not have carried 
her. She will be glad when I tell her that at 
last I have found thee.” 

“ I did very little, Samuel, and for that 
little have been repaid a ' thousand fold. It 
was thou who first led me to Him. But tell 
me of thy mother and thyself. How is she? ” 

“ She is well. She is always well now. 
She hasn’t been ill one day since the Prophet 
cured her, and that, as thou dost know, was 


80 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

more than two years ago. She is able to work 
every day, and I work too now that I am 
big enough, so we are almost rich. We 
always have enough to eat these days and we 
have a nice house. It is very little but it is 
comfortable. We like it.” He had talked 
very fast and paused out of breath, but soon 
he rattled on again. “ My mother is in 
Jerusalem too. We came for the Feast and 
are staying in a big house down there.” He 
pointed vaguely in the direction of the poorer 
quarter of the city. “ It belongs to an old 
man named Jacob.” 

“ I am very glad, Samuel, that all is well 
with thee and thine. I have often thought 
of you both and wondered how you fared.” 

“ Have you ? ” the boy exclaimed, much 
pleased. “Of course we could not forget 
thee — but that is different. No one could 
forget any one who had been kind to him, 
could he? ” 

John shook his head. 

“ When we reached home that day we talked 
and talked about everything that had happened, 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 8l 

and then we remembered that when we were 
so happy with the Prophet we forgot thee en- 
tirely. We have felt ashamed and sorry 
every since but we have tried to get even with 
thee by praying for thee every night.” 

As John thanked him there was a suspicion 
of moisture in his black eyes and his voice 
was very low and sweet. “ Perhaps it was 
your prayers which won for me the priceless 
privilege of becoming His friend.” 

The boy did not quite understand. He 
looked up into his companion’s face and found 
it very tender and humble. A light came to 
him. “ He must have meant Jesus of Naz- 
areth,” he thought. “ No one else ever made 
me feel like that.” And aloud he said hesi- 
tatingly, “ Dost thou mean — hast thou ever 
seen Jesus since that day? ” 

“ Many, many times, Samuel.” Very 
simply he went on to tell the boy of other mir- 
acles he had seen Him perform, and somewhat 
of the new and divinely beautiful doctrine 
which He taught. 

Samuel listened without a word and when 


82 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

John had finished they walked on in silence 
until they reached the door of his palace. “ I 
am at home. Come in and dine with me, 
Samuel. I would be very glad to have thy 
company.” 

“O no, thank you. I must go back to 
Jacob’s. My mother will be anxious about 
me.” He glanced up at the great massive 
building, most gloomy and forbidding. 
“ What a fine big house you have ! You must 
be rich, as rich as Malchus who lives near us 
at home.” 

With evident reluctance he said good bye 
to John and started off in the direction they 
had come. Before the servant had opened 
the door to admit his master the boy ran 
back. “Will Jesus be in Jerusalem for the 
Feast?” 

“ I think so,” John answered. 

“ Perhaps I shall see Him ! We had to 
leave Him about an hour after my mother 
was cured so that we could reach home before 
dark and — and I hated to go away. The 
Prophet knew that I did and He whispered to 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 83 

me that I would see Him again. Maybe it 
is to be soon — to-day or to-morrow;” and 
smiling radiantly he started away for the 
second time. 

The afternoon passed quickly and the long 
peaceful twilight had darkened into night 
when a slave announced to John that a boy 
wished to speak to him without delay. John 
started to his feet, seized by an unaccount- 
able premonition of misfortune, just as 
Samuel, who had followed the slave closely, 
entered the room trembling from head to foot 
with excitement and terror. 

“ They are going to kill the Prophet ! They 
are going to kill Him to-night ! ” he cried 
bursting into a flood of tears. 

John’s heart stood still. “ They would not 
dare. Surely they would not,” he answered, 
but his heart misgave him for he knew but 
too well how numerous and how powerful 
were His enemies. By talking soothingly and 
far more hopefully than he felt, John suc- 
ceeded in comforting Samuel. 

At last he was calm enough to tell his story 


84 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

coherently. “ It is chilly this evening so I 
did not go onto the roof of Jacob’s house 
but sat outside huddled close to the wall 
watching the sky and thinking about the 
Prophet. After a while two men came out 
and stood talking together quite near to me, but 
I was in the shadow and they did not see me. 
One of them, a little fat man, said, ‘ I thought 
I would never find a chance to speak to you 
privately. At last we have succeeded. We 
have Jesus of Nazareth hopelessly entangled in 
our net — His life is not worth a penny to- 
night! One of his followers betrayed Him 
to the chief priests for thirty pieces of silver.’ ” 

“ That crafty Judas, I would be willing to 
wager! ” John muttered fiercely. 

Samuel did not understand what he said 
but he did not stop to ask. Talking very fast 
he went on, “ The men said that Jesus was in 
the Garden of Olives and that a great mob, 
all armed with swords and clubs, had gone 
there to get Him. And John, the men laughed 
and were glad! O what can we do? I 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 85 

thought that thou wouldst know how to save 
Him so I ran here as fast as I could.” 

“ Do not grieve, Samuel. They would not 
dare kill Him. He has thousands of friends 
as devoted to Him as we are. True, His 
enemies are powerful but — why they could 
not put Him to death without giving Him a 
trial and He hath done only good so He would 
surely be acquitted. — But come with me. We 
will satisfy ourselves that all is well with Him. 
Possibly we may be found worthy to fight for 
Him ! ” 

The boy was much comforted, and to- 
gether they hurried through the long rooms 
of the palace, across the court and out into 
the silent, deserted street. They had not gone 
far when a noise, dull but insistent, assailed 
their ears. As they ran on it grew louder 
and more distinct until they could distinguish 
the tramping of horses, the beat of number- 
less feet on the stone pavement and wild, 
brutish shouts of fiendish exultation. A 
chill of horror pierced them through and 


86 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

through as they sped on guided by the noise. 
Soon a fearful sight met their eyes. 

An infuriated mob was straggling through 
the far-famed Golden Gate of Jerusalem and,, 
hurrying in the direction of the house of 
Annas, father-in-law of Caiphas, the high- 
priest. John and Samuel shrank back into the 
shadow of a projecting balcony to watch them 
pass. 

There were hundreds of them, all enemies 
of the Prisoner. Not one of Jesus' friends 
was to be seen. The men pushed and jostled 
one another roughly, sometimes howling like 
demons, at others breaking into loud dis- 
cordant singing of coarse songs. The torches 
which many of them carried flickered in the 
night wind and failed to light the way; they 
served only to show, now and then, the fierce, 
angry, yet jubilant faces of their bearers. 
Once there was a momentary break in the 
ranks of the- mob and John and Samuel had a 
glimpse of Jesus’ face, serene but very pale. 

The throng was long past and the hubbub 
was dying in the distance before John stirred. 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 87 

A great fear had taken possession of him. 
He felt impelled to flee to a place of safety, 
for was he not known to be a friend of this 
Man whose enemies were legion? He wav- 
ered weakly, he was about to seek safety at 
any cost, when soft there echoed in his ears 
a boy’s voice, his own voice, and it said ear- 
nestly, “ I shall love Thee always.” 

“ Come ! ” he said to Samuel, seizing him 
by the arm; and together they followed in the 
trail of the fast disappearing mob. Soon they 
began to gain on it for it had halted before 
the house of Annas, and the leaders were 
dragging Jesus to him. John and Samuel 
overtook it and with the others waited what 
seemed a very long time before Jesus was 
brought forth. Once more the motley throng 
moved on, desecrating the sweet night air 
with shrieks and curses, as they escorted their 
Saviour to the court of the high -priest. 

John had known Caiphas all his life but for 
some time there had been no intercourse be- 
tween them. Fortunately, however, the por- 
tress recognized him as one who had formerly 


88 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

been a familiar figure in her master’s house 
and she allowed him to pass into the court 
room unquestioned. But Samuel, following 
close at his heels, she stopped. 

“ No children are allowed within,” she said 
positively. John went back to try to persuade 
her to allow the boy to enter. 

“ It would be against my orders — and even 
if I let him pass he would be sent out again.” 

John was at a loss what to do but Samuel 
settled the question by saying decidedly, 
“ Never mind me. Thou must stay near Him. 
He hath no other friend here. I promise 
thee that I shall run back to Jacob’s as fast as 
I can.” And in a moment he had disap- 
peared up the dark, narrow street. 

John stepped just inside the door where he 
could see and hear everything without being 
much observed. Hardly had the last of the 
ancients strutted into the court room followed 
by the imperial-looking high-priest, when 
Jesus was led forward to a small platform 
directly in front of the throne. Caiphas did 
not deign to look at Him but sat sorting 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 89 

over some papers and chatting with his col- 
leagues. 

As all present awaited the pleasure of the 
high-priest, John, chancing to glance toward 
the open door, caught sight of Peter’s face, 
eager and anxious. He said a word to the 
portress and going out brought him into the 
hall. Peter slipped quietly to the lower end 
of the room where a fire was burning brightly, 
but John crossed over to Caiphas’ side. 

He leaned close to him and spoke in an 
undertone which no one else could hear. 
“ O Caiphas ! Caiphas ! This is blasphemy. 
Surely thou dost not dare sit in judgment on 
the Son of God! O Caiphas be merciful 
if only for thy own soul’s sake! Think what 
good He hath done to — ” 

Not a muscle of Caiphas’ stern, hard, proud 
face stirred as John plead for the meek 
Prisoner who stood before them. Had he 
been deaf he could not have been more stolid. 
John was in the middle of a sentence when 
he turned to the man sitting on his other side 
and opened a whispered consultation with him. 


90 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


Apparently he was unaware of John’s ex- 
istence. 

John’s face flushed hotly at the insult but 
looking up at Jesus standing meek and silent 
before His persecutors he became calm. 
Patiently he waited until Caiphas was done, 
and again he leaned toward him. “ Thou 
didst know and love my father. He was good 
to thee as a lad. Thou dost remember more 
than one time that he befriended thee. For 
his sake and for mine, be merciful, be just! 
I loved thee when I was a child and thou a 
big boy, brave and kindly and noble — O 
Caiphas ! Caiphas ! ” 

Caiphas glanced at him coldly. " Be done. 
I know thee not : ” and he waved his hand in 
curt dismissal. 

Then was the Son of God called to account 
by His sinful creatures while the angels, look- 
ing on, trembled and adored. 

It was all over in a few minutes. The ly- 
ing witnesses gave their contradictory testi- 
mony, the high-priest asked his questions and 
Jesus deigned to answer him simply and sub- 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 91 


limely. Caiphas rent his garments as an ex- 
pression of his grief at the blasphemy of 
Jesus. During the examination a servant 
struck Jesus on the face and the court room 
rang with exultant laughter, while John 
clenched his fists in impotent anger. Yes, it 
took but a moment for them to find Jesus 
guilty of death for their sins. 

There was a slight stir at the door and, 
glancing up fearfully, John saw Seth push 
his way in and look about him with wild, 
blood-shot eyes. The servants were leading 
Jesus to the lower end of the court room 
and Caiphas had settled back in his massive 
chair with an air of complete satisfaction. 

John watched Seth in astonishment. He 
stood looking about him as if dazed, mutter- 
ing so loud that anyone could have heard him, 
“ My God ! O my God, this is terrible ! ” 
Behind him John caught a glimpse of 
Peter whom he had quite forgotten. He was 
leaving the court room weeping bitterly. 

Then Seth went over to the high-priest. 
Furiously he raged at him, denouncing in 


92 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

violent terms all his own the awful crime 
which was being committed. John looked at 
him in dismay. Could this be the Seth whom 
he knew? As for Caiphas, he laughed de- 
risively at the old man’s vehement tirade, and 
getting up leisurelv left the court. 

One by one the scribes and ancients fol- 
lowed him until the great hall was emptied 
save that at one end Seth and John stood to- 
gether watching with streaming eyes the scene 
that was being enacted at the other. Several 
soldiers, who had formed part of the mob and 
who had stood in the background while 
Caiphas was present, hurried forward and 
helped the servants half push, half drag Jesus 
to a rickety stool which they forced Him to 
sit upon. They then proceeded to amuse 
themselves by striking His pale face, already 
disfigured by one cruel blow. Some of them 
spat upon Him. They blindfolded Him and 
bending their knees in mock homage cried, 
“ Prophesy ! Prophesy unto us, O Christ, 
who is he who struck thee ! ” And the others 
laughed boisterously. 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 93 

Seth was talking to himself wildly but in a 
subdued tone. “ O I knew Him. I knew 
Him long ago and I was afraid, ashamed! 
Good Lord forgive me! Forgive me! O 
how they strike Him — and He is God. He 
is indeed God ! ” At length his voice sank to 
a low moan and he dropped his head on His 
breast. He looked twenty years older than 
when John had last seen him. In a few hours 
he had become pitiably aged and feeble. 

The din at the lower end of the hall sub- 
sided for a moment but the short respite fore- 
boded greater outrages. Suddenly the serv- 
ant who had struck Jesus in the presence of 
the high-priest gave Him a terrible blow on 
the head with a stout club which he had found 
in the corner. 

John could stand it no longer. Obeying a 
sudden impulse of terrific anger he ran for- 
ward and with one blow felled the coward to 
the floor. Instantly his associates rushed upon 
John and, easily overpowering him, beat and 
kicked him brutally and finally threw him half 
way across the floor. 


94 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


Seth ran to his assistance but John was on 
his feet in a moment, bruised and cut but not 
seriously hurt. He and Seth shrank back into 
a corner and remained silent, motionless, al- 
most fearing to breathe but determined to stay 
there as long as possible. 

As time passed the men wearied of their 
sport. One proposed that they go into the 
adjoining room where there were several bot- 
tles of wine. The others acquiesced with a 
cheer. Scarcely were they gone when Seth 
tip-toed to a low table beside the high-priest’s 
throne. On it stood a pitcher of water and 
a goblet. He filled the latter and noiselessly 
stole across the room toward Jesus, while John, 
divining what was in his mind, watched 
at the door to warn him of the enemy’s return. 

Seth knelt at Jesus’ feet and put the cup 
into His trembling, bruised hands. “ O 
good Lord, forgive me! I did know but I 
am sorry! I am sorry! — They are so cruel 
to Thee, so cruel ! ” The old man was sob- 
bing as if his heart would break. 

“ My son, grieve not for Me. Thy love 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 95 


comforts Me much. Thy sins are all forgiven 
thee.” 

Seth was smiling through his tears when 
he replaced the goblet. 

Ten minutes later the soldiers returned. 
By that time the sun, fully risen, cast its fair 
light into the disorderly court room revealing 
to Seth and John, more plainly than the flick- 
ering lights had done, the dreadful scene be- 
fore them — the brutal, half-drunken soldiers, 
the not less guilty servants, and in their midst 
Jesus bruised and cut and faint from loss of 
blood and weariness. He was still gentle and 
meek and serene. It was with aching hearts 
that they left the hall and passed out into 
the deserted street. 


CHAPTER VIII 


John led Seth to his own door and they 
parted there without a word; but he himself 
did not, could not, go home. Instead he wan- 
dered half distracted through the familiar 
streets so lately trod by Jesus. Although it 
was still very early in the morning every 
avenue was crowded with men who hurried 
back and forth with excited troubled faces. 
Still they were singularly quiet. Many were 
entirely silent; those who talked lowered their 
voices almost to a whisper. 

As for John he heard nothing save the 
sweet voice of Jesus, saw nothing save His 
once beautiful face disfigured with spittle and 
livid bruises as the morning light had revealed 
it after the long night's agony. On and on 
he walked until at last, spent with fatigue, he 
sank down on a bench in the market place. 

96 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 9 7 


He never knew how long he had sat there 
when some one touched him on the shoulder. 
He looked up dully, and for a moment stared 
vacantly at the man who stood beside him; 
then his face brightened for the first time in 
many hours. “O Joseph, is it thou? Thou 
at least art His friend,” he said, and his voice 
was almost a sob. 

Joseph nodded gravely and took a seat be- 
side him. “ Hast thou heard anything?” he 
asked. 

John told him of all he had witnessed dur- 
ing the preceding night, told him fully but 
as swiftly as he could. The subject was too 
painful, too dreadful to dwell upon. 

“ Poor Seth ! I thought it would end so ! ” 
Very gravely he continued, “ John, I have later 
news than thine. They have dragged the 
Master to Pilate. God alone knows what will 
be the outcome. It is torture to sit here and 
do nothing — but what can we do ? The other 
counselors will have nothing more to say to 
me because I would not consent to the wicked 
plans which they unfolded at our last meeting. 


98 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

I have lost all influence with them — I never 
had any with Caiphas or the governor. I do 
not even know Pilate except by reputation. ,, 

“ I do — slightly,” John answered, waking 
up suddenly. “ Better still, I am a favorite 
with the noble Marcius whom the emperor 
loves above all his subjects. Suppose we go 
to Pilate. I can try the effect on him of the 
threat that if he deals unjustly with Christ 
the fact shall not fail to reach the ear of 
Tiberius.” 

“ Pilate has seemed to me a well meaning 
man, but weak and fearful and ambitious, de- 
cidedly ambitious,” Joseph replied thought- 
fully. “ Such a one would greatly fear 
Rome's displeasure. Yes, that is our only 
weapon against him. Come, you must speak 
with him as soon as possible.” 

Side by side they hurried through the nar- 
row streets toward the governor’s hall. Long 
before they reached it they could hear con- 
fused shouts in which the words “ king ” and 
“ worthy of death ” were the only ones they 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 99 


could distinguish. Trembling with appre- 
hension they quickened their pace to a run 
until Joseph, who was stout and well past 
middle age, had to pause for breath. 

They reached Pilate’s hall at last. They 
forced themselves through the dense, motley 
throng which blocked the door, and slowly 
and patiently worked their way on and on 
until they were close to Pilate’s judgment 
seat. 

He sat there, pale, anxious, conciliating. 
The crowd before him, composed of the rabble 
of the streets with a sprinkling of priests 
among them, was noisy, clamorous, blood- 
thirsty. Hatred was written large on every 
face, hatred of Jesus who stood in the centre 
of the room clad in a white garment — the 
dress of a fool. His sacred face was death- 
like in its pallor and he swayed from time to 
time as if from weakness. Still, as He stood 
there alone, begrimed, wounded, scoffed at, 
surrounded by His enemies and deserted by 
His friends, He was the one commanding 


100 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


figure in the crowded hall. His majesty was 
awe inspiring. It added to Pilate’s trouble of 
mind and goaded to madness the fury of the 
brutal mob. 

As Joseph and John reached the inner cir- 
cle of the throng Pilate was speaking and for 
the instant there was no other sound in the 
great hall. “ Whether will you of the two be 
released to you ? ” he asked. 

Quick as a flash the answer came loud and 
decisive. “ Away with this Man and release 
to us Barabbas ! ” 

Joseph and John, remembering the crimes 
of Barabbas and the sinlessness of Jesus, shud- 
dered with inexpressible horror. 

Then did Pilate plead with them for the 
Prisoner, knowing Him to be guiltless and 
fearing to shed innocent blood only less than 
he feared their displeasure. He greatly 
dreaded a sedition among the infuriated pop- 
ulace, for he knew well that if there were any 
serious disturbance while he was in office it 
would speak ill for him at Rome and blight 
his chance of advancement 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM ioi 


But the rabble, incited by the priests, was 
insistent. Over and over again the room 
rang with the cry: “ Crucify Him! Crucify 
Him ! ” 

Pilate had wavered from the first ; at last he 
went further. As a prelude to the releasing 
of Barabbas in preference to the innocent 
Jesus, he washed his hands before them to 
signify that he cast off the responsibility and 
threw it upon their shoulders. 

“ His blood be upon us and upon our chil- 
dren ! ” Loud they answered him — and their 
answer echoes through the world to-day. 

Meanwhile John had made his way to the 
governor’s seat and spoke to him in an under- 
tone. “ Pilate, I beg of you, set this innocent 
Man free. You know well that He is such. 
Remember, that though Rome is stern and 
cruel, she is also just. It will go hard with 
you if these things reach the ear of the em- 
peror. The noble Marcius, so high in his 
favor, is a true friend of mine. He sees Ti- 
berius even now when he refuses almost 
every one else. And Pilate, unless you set 


102 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

Jesus free uninjured Tiberius shall hear of it 
through him. I swear it ! ” 

Pilate sneered as he answered but he looked 
troubled, almost desperate. “ If, as you 
claim, you are a friend of Marcius it is strange 
that you know not that he has been dead for a 
month or more.” 

“ Dead ! Marcius dead ! ” 

“ Yes, I said so. He fell dead in the Fo- 
rum.” 

“ Poor little Marcia ! ” 

“What do you say?” Pilate asked irrita- 
bly. 

John made no direct answer. In an instant 
he had forgotten Marcia; and again he plead 
for Jesus, using every argument, every threat 
he could think of, but Pilate was obdurate. 

“ Leave me,” he said at last. “ I shall do 
as I see fit. Who are you to dictate to a 
Roman ! ” 

Heartsick John returned to Joseph and to- 
gether they left the hall resolved to try to in- 
fluence Caiphas through his wife who was a 
niece of Joseph’s and a true woman, gentle 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 103 

and tender. It was a forlorn hope but their 
only one. 

They had great difficulty in gaining ad- 
mittance into the high-priest’s palace, and 
once within waited a tedious, trying half hour 
before his wife joined them. She was affec- 
tionate to Joseph and cordial to John but she 
shook her head sadly when they broached the 
object of their visit. “ Even if you had come 
sooner it would have been useless, utterly use- 
less for me to have interceded for Jesus of 
Nazareth. Caiphas would not listen. I — I 
have often implored him not to injure Him. 
It angered him and did no good.” 

Joseph and John bowed and turned to leave 
her, heavy hearted. Their last resource had 
failed. Before they reached the door she 
called them back. Her face had suddenly be- 
come white to the lips and when she spoke her 
voice trembled much. “ Even if I had any 
power — which I never had — it would now 
be too late to use it. An hour and a half ago 
Pontius Pilate pronounced the sentence of 
death on this Jesus whom they call the Christ. 


104 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


He has been scourged and now He — He is on 
His way to Calvary carrying His own cross.” 
Quickly she disappeared into an adjoining 
apartment and the two men made their way 
out with all haste. 

“To Golgotha!” Joseph said when they 
reached the street. John was too miserable 
to be conscious of his fatigue and they walked 
very swiftly until they were within sight of 
the Mount; then horror made them slacken 
their pace. It chilled them to the marrow of 
their bones. They scarcely breathed. 

High on the summit of Mount Calvary 
they saw two dark crosses sharply outlined 
against the bright blue sky, and tied to them 
were the bodies of two criminals who writhed 
horribly in their agony. As they watched, a 
third cross, the largest of them all, was raised 
and dropped into the hole prepared for it be- 
tween the other two. They knew but too 
well Who He was who hung motionless upon 
it and with agonizing hearts they dragged 
their leaden feet on and on, nearer and nearer, 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 105 


in the dense darkness which had suddenly en- 
veloped the earth. 

Mount Calvary was crowded on every side. 
There were Jews, not only from Judea and 
Galilee but from all the cities of the world, 
Jews who had drifted far but who yearly re- 
turned to Jerusalem to celebrate the Pasch. 
Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Arabs were 
there; hardly a nation but was represented. 
Frail, sensitive women and little children were 
watching, trembling yet eager to see all. 
Some few there were who knelt in love and 
pity and awe; by far the vast majority 
breathed hatred and rage and scorn for the 
Leader discredited (they thought) forever. 

The confusion was unutterable. Men hur- 
ried to and fro on foot or horseback pushing 
their way blindly in the darkness, caring not 
whom they might injure. Shrieks of agony 
from the dying thieves rent the air, interrupted 
by loud cries from the rabble which was pur- 
suing Jesus to the last. 

In the crowd John lost sight of Joseph. He 


io6 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


did not attempt to get close to the cross but 
fell on his knees near the foot of the Mount 
where the throng was less dense. He prayed 
mechanically with his lips — his heart was 
past feeling more. 

Slowly the hours lagged by, each moment 
lengthened endlessly by its freight of pain. 
Gradually a solemn hush fell over the people, 
a hush more awful than the confusion which 
preceded it. Jesus spoke His tender words 
of love and forgiveness. He suffered all that 
could be suffered, and then He bowed His 
head and died. 

There was an instant’s breathless silence be- 
fore, close to John’s ear, a woman’s cry rang 
out clear and sweet and strong. “ Be merci- 
ful to us, O God, for we have killed Thy 
Son ! ” Involuntarily he glanced up, noticing 
for the first time the closely veiled woman, 
dressed in sombre black, who knelt beside 
him. A moment later she fell back uncon- 
scious. 

Her attendant spoke to him. “ My lady’s 
litter is at the foot of the hill. May I trouble 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 10 7 

you to send it here to us? 0 1 know not 
what to do ! She should not have come ! ” 

The ground was trembling violently and the 
rocks that dotted the sides of the Mount were 
being torn asunder, but John made his way as 
best he could to the road below and there 
found the litter. He led the bearers back to 
the helpless woman and, finding that he was no 
longer needed, left them. 

In the meantime the great throng was flee- 
ing wildly, terrified by the trembling of the 
ground and by the sudden return of the sun’s 
light which showed but too vividly the ghastly 
figures on their crosses. Only Jesus’ mother 
and a few of His friends remained on Calvary 
a quarter of an hour after he had breathed 
His last. John joined the privileged group 
and stood with them silent, sad, but at peace, 
beneath the lifeless body of Him who had 
died that all men might have life everlasting. 


CHAPTER IX 


It was Monday morning and John was at 
home again for the first time since he and 
Samuel had left the palace on that ever mem- 
orable Thursday evening. 

When at last the body of Jesus rested in the 
tomb and the long drawn out agony was over, 
he had been one of the sorrowful little party 
which, with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, made 
their way to Salome’s poor little house in a 
quiet, out of the way quarter of Jerusalem. 
There the missing apostles and some few dis- 
ciples had joined them one by one. 

Saturday had been a long, sad, lonely day. 
Jesus was in the tomb and his friends were 
miserable without Him. They feared to 
venture on the street lest they be recognized 
as His followers and treated accordingly. 
The thought of the future terrified them; it 
108 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 109 


seemed hopelessly dark and fraught with dan- 
gers from which their timid souls shrank. 

Sunday came, and all was changed. At 
break of day several of the women went to 
visit the Master’s tomb, carrying with them 
ointment and sweet spices. Soon after Mary 
Magdalen, breathless and greatly excited, had 
burst into the room where many of the disci- 
ples were gathered with the startling news that 
the huge stone before the door of the sepulchre 
was rolled back and that the body of Jesus 
was no longer there. Peter and John hurried 
back with her to make certain that she had not 
been deceived. Later she and the other women 
had returned to Salome’s house with beaming 
faces to tell in tremulous awed voices of hav- 
ing seen Jesus and spoken with Him, and of 
His message to His disciples. There had been 
some among their listeners who did not, could 
not, understand but obediently they went into 
Galilee as He had directed. 

John had found no difficulty in believing 
their tidings. That the Christ who gave life 
to his little dead dog and to the daughter of 


IIO A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


Jairus should of His own power raise Himself 
from death and the tomb seemed to him but 
natural. 

It was not until noon of the next day 
that he went home, so happy that irresistibly 
he smiled at every one he met. At once a 
slave hurried forward with a light luncheon 
served on a silver tray, and then he hung 
about him as he ate it. “ Master, were you 
not surprised when you passed Marcius’ pal- 
ace ? ” he ventured at last, unable longer to 
control his curiosity. 

“Surprised! Why? I did not pass it but 
came through the side entrance directly into 
the court. ,, 

“ Then perhaps you do not know that it is 
open. It has been occupied since Friday.” 

“Occupied since Friday!” John echoed in 
astonishment. For a minute or two he sat 
perfectly still staring absently at the paneled 
wall before him; then he rose and paced rest- 
lessly back and forth the length of the long 
room. “ Marcia must have returned to Jeru- 
salem to spend the days of her mourning,” he 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 1 1 1 


decided. “ Romans often leave the city at 
such times, I have heard.” 

He stopped short beside the little slave boy 
who was watching him curiously. “ You say 
that it is some days since the daughter of 
Marcius returned ? ” 

“ Yes. She reached home on Friday — her 
steward told me — but first she went to Mount 
Calvary to see your Prophet crucified, — and 
it made her ill.” 

Instantly one unimportant incident of that 
never-to-be-forgotten day flashed into John’s 
mind. He heard again the cry of the woman 
who knelt beside him, and once more saw her 
sink senseless to the ground. For the space 
of a full minute he stared at the astonished 
boy, puzzled, bewildered, before he gasped 
out, “ It was she ! It was Marcia ! ” He 
turned away muttering to himself. “ How 
strange that I did not recognize her voice — 
but I had not a thought to spare for anyone 
but Him 

He resumed his swift walk, and the slave 


II 2 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


slipped from the room, frightened by his 
strange wild words and stranger manner. 

Suddenly a smile of joy lighted John’s face 
and in his excitement he exclaimed aloud, 
“ She cried out with her whole heart and she 
called the Master 4 God ! ’ This must mean, 
it does mean, that she knows Him, that she, 
too, believes.” Slowly he twice paced the 
length of the apartment repeating aloud at in- 
tervals as if to convince himself of something 
too good to be true, 44 Marcia believes in Him ! 
She believes in Him ! ” 

At last he threw himself on a low couch 
and sat there long, pondering deeply. He 
could not understand it, could not imagine how 
it had come to pass, but that it was true, he 
knew. 44 It is but another proof of the tender, 
all-powerful love of the Master,” he concluded. 

Peace of soul, that greatest of all blessings, 
had long been his, but it was with a face 
beaming with the light of the precious human 
joy to which he had long been a stranger that, 
an hour later, he crossed the street. As of 
old he passed unannounced into the ravish- 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 113 

ingly beautiful court which Marcia had al- 
ways loved. Eagerly he looked toward the 
arbor where he had last talked to her and his 
heart beat wildly when he caught sight of a 
small figure dressed in sombre black. 

Marcia saw him at once and, lightly as a 
child, she ran to meet him, smiling the win- 
some smile he remembered so well. “ O 
John ! John ! I am so glad to see thee ! Yester- 
day I watched for thee all day long and thou 
didst not come.” She shook a little finger at 
him playfully. “ I fear that thou hast almost 
forgotten thy old playmate.” 

Then, like a flash, the smile was gone, and 
before John had time to say a word in answer 
to her greeting, she burst into tears. “ O 
John they were so cruel to Him! It was 
awful, awful, and we could do nothing, noth- 
ing to comfort Him.” She was sobbing as if 
her heart would break. 

“ But Marcia, hast thou not heard ? ” cried 
John in a voice so joyous that the girl looked 
up at him through her tears, greatly surprised. 
“ Why Marcia, He hath risen from the dead ! ” 


1 14 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


“ Risen from the dead ! ” she repeated me- 
chanically, unable all at once to grasp the stu- 
pendous fact. 

“ Yes, Marcia. Yesterday I, myself, talked 
to several women who had seen Him; and 
Peter, always the most favored of His apos- 
tles, saw within the sepulchre after Jesus left 
it empty, and he described to me very exactly 
in what condition he had found it. There 
is no doubt of it, Marcia.” 

“ O John, I am so glad!” She was all 
smiles again. Not for one instant did she 
doubt. To her it seemed only natural and 
very simple. 

In silence they crossed the court and me- 
chanically took their accustomed seats in the 
fairy-like arbor which, to John at least, was 
associated with sad and bitter memories. 

For a few minutes nothing was said but 
each was so absorbed in his own thoughts that 
neither of them was conscious of the silence. 
John spoke first. “ Marcia, how is it that 
thou, fresh from pagan Rome, dost know and 
love Jesus of Nazareth? ” 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 115 

The girl’s voice was very low as she an- 
swered; stranger still, the old playful ring 
was entirely absent from it. She was deeply 
in earnest. “ Dost thou recollect, John, the 
day our little Tito was brought back to life 
after the soldier’s big dog had worried him 
to death? And dost thou remember the tall, 
gentle Youth who did it?” 

“ Indeed yes,” John replied. 

“ I thought little of it at the time — I took 
it as a matter of course. I was ever a silly, 
thoughtless little thing, as thou dost know. 
But John when I grew older and became, well, 
a little wiser, I did dwell much on that inci- 
dent when I was by myself ; and — and I won- 
dered and could not understand. Then, one 
evening a man who had been traveling through 
Palestine and Arabia dined with my father and 
me at Rome. He told us of a Prophet called 
Jesus of Nazareth who had raised a little girl 
to life somewhere in Judea — or perhaps it 
was in Galilee. I knew at once that the same 
Man had worked both miracles, the second 
hardly greater than what He did for us two 


II 6 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 

weeping children. I felt certain that there 
could not be two men in this little world with 
such power over life and death. 

“ And John, I — I was not very happy just 
then, and I found that it did me good to think 
of Him often — I hardly know why. Then 
dear Father died and I began to long to come 
back to Jerusalem.” Her eyes filled when 
she mentioned her father and there was a 
piteous little quaver in her voice. 

John clasped her small white hand in his in 
token of his sympathy. 

“ There were several reasons why I wanted 
to come back. I thought that perhaps I would 
have an opportunity of seeing and hearing 
Jesus, and then — and then — ” 

She broke off leaving her sentence unfin- 
ished, and ignoring it, went on with her story. 
“ As we came into Jerusalem on Friday 
morning there was noise and confusion every- 
where. Why the streets were as crowded as 
they are in Rome! Naturally I was anxious 
to know the cause of the excitement, and I 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM II 7 


sent one of my attendants to inquire. He 
came back with the report that Jesus of Naza- 
reth, a man who was an enemy of Caesar, was 
to be crucified at Golgotha about midday. O 
John, how I felt! I could not go home com- 
fortably just as if nothing were happening so 
I told the men to carry my litter to the place 
of execution. At the foot of Mount Calvary 
I got out and walked a short distance farther 
up. I took Lucia, my Roman maid with me. 
She was furiously angry at the whole pro- 
ceeding though of course she did not dare 
refuse to go with me. 

“O John, it was so fearful, so terrifying, 
for He is God! I know it, how I cannot 
tell.” 

After a moment she concluded more qui- 
etly, “ I soon realized who he was who knelt 
beside me, but I did not care at the time. But 
afterward — afterward I was glad that we 
had been together there.” 

John left his seat and paced back and forth 
once or twice before he turned to Marcia say- 


Il8 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


ing in a blunt, crisp way, most unnatural to 
him, “ I suppose that soon thou wilt begin to 
pine for thy beloved Rome.” 

Marcia looked hurt and did not answer at 
once. When she spoke it was with a little 
shudder. “Never! Never! No one can 
make me go back there! I hate it, hate it! 
The mere thought of it terrifies me. Thou 
needst not smile, John. I remember perfectly 
well that I longed to go, that I expected to 
find it an earthly paradise. I had not guessed 
what it is. 

“John, I went once to the great games. I 
was ill for weeks afterwards, and even yet 
when I am alone in the dark I hear the roar 
of the wild beasts, maddened with hunger and 
the smell of blood; I hear the gladiators’ cries 
of agony and their low, piteous, dying groans. 
And O, worst of all, John, I cannot forget the 
deafening shouts of applause which such suf- 
fering called forth from the heartless, pitiless 
Romans ! ” Her eyes flashed and she trem- 
bled, stirred to the* depths of her sensitive 


A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 1 19 

nature by her too vivid recollection of the hor- 
rible scene. 

“When the first gladiator was overcome I 
leaned toward the emperor and plead for the 
poor fellow’s life. He granted my request, 
though not very graciously, but the people 
hissed their rage and disappointment. After 
that I closed my eyes until all was over, but I 
could not help hearing 

With one of those quick changes of mood 
so characteristic of her and which John found 
so charming, she suddenly smiled up into his 
serious face. “ O John, I am only half Ro- 
man, and I fear, I greatly fear, that the other 
half of me is Jew — which is a dreadful pity ! ” 
John smiled back at her mechanically, but 
an instant after his face was as grave as be- 
fore. “ Then, Marcia, dost thou think — that 
is, I wonder if thou — if thou — ” he stam- 
mered blushing like a timid school boy. 

Womanlike, Marcia understood. “ Yes, 
John. It was to be with thee that I came back 
— to be with thee always,” she answered with 


120 A ROMANCE OF OLD JERUSALEM 


childlike frankness, looking up at him with lov- 
ing, trustful eyes. 

“O Marcia! Marcia !” John cried, too 
happy to say more ; and long they sat hand in 
hand unconscious of the flight of time, un- 
conscious of everything but their own delicious 
joy. 

John spoke at last, very softly. “ Marcia 
dear, dost thou remember Miras, my father’s 
steward ? ” 

“ Yes, of course I do,” she answered, won- 
dering at the irrelevance of the question. 

John told her the strange story of his early 
life, of his wearisome search for Sira, and 
lastly how he and Miras had gone, together 
with Seth, to see Jesus. He told her how on 
that same day Miras’ wife was also in Ca- 
pharnaum with her mistress, and how, but for 
the loving kindness of Jesus, they would have 
missed each other. “ And Marcia,” he said 
in conclusion, “ hath He not been all tender- 
ness toward us too ? — By what strange, sweet 
ways He hath brought thee back to me, my 
darling.” 























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